The proposed development included the creation of eighteen apartments, three large open plan office floors and six smaller B1 office units. The ground floor has been lowered as part of the first phase and the project includes the addition of a third floor to create six new build apartments as well as one of the open plan offices.

When we were appointed to the project team, the development had already been granted conditional planning consent.

However, as the project team had not received any M&E advice up to that point, the Energy Statement that had been approved was not possible to implement without compromising other planning conditions.

For this reason, we developed the energy strategy for this project in discussion with Hackney Borough Council, to create a more coordinated proposal that was feasible both technically and physically. We carried out all of the supporting SAP and SBEM calculations and produced an Energy Statement that was agreed with Hackney Borough Council and coordinated with rest of the team.

As the refurbished apartments were required to achieve a BREEAM domestic refurbishment excellent certificate, we worked closely with the whole team to ensure that this planning condition was met. We guided the team and produced supporting calculations and design stage evidence and ensured that of all the BREEAM requirements were sufficiently captured in the design and specification.

Coordinating with the existing architecture and structure was key to the success of this project, and we carried out extensive survey work early to make sure we fully understood the building constraints. We also arranged for some of the existing beams to be opened up to understand where the rebar was located and how pipework could penetrate it. A point cloud survey was commissioned and a revit model of the building was created, which enabled us to validate our design and coordinate the pinch points in 3D.

One of the key challenges of this project included the need to maintain the electrical supply to the Leyland retail unit, whilst upgrading the existing transformer. We did this by requesting a temporary supply from UKPN which could then be swapped over, once the upgrade works were complete.

We worked closely with MAP architecture to develop a viable exposed services distribution strategy, with all penetrations through beams agreed with the structural engineer. We have successfully completed a Stage 4a design for tender, and have acted in a monitoring role on behalf of the Client through construction. The project is now nearing completion.