Project Description

Façade remediation for Kier Places and Hammersmith & Fulham Council

Kier Places was created in 2021 as the housing maintenance and facilities management division of Kier Group, quickly winning a £75 million contract for capital works on the public housing stock owned by Hammersmith & Fulham Council in London, a project expected to last around five years.

External façade remediation forms a significant aspect of the overall project, and as a recognised and approved contractor within Kier Construction’s internal procurement framework, we were delighted to be referred to the newly formed Kier Places.

Residential remediation work at a central London location

With extensive experience working alongside the teams at Kier Construction, for this project we were selected to complete the replacement of non-compliant cladding on four housing blocks, Desborough House, Lickey House, Churchward House and Fairburn House.

The four buildings are located in busy central London, near Earl’s Court, with each a multistorey block of between 9 and 11 storeys, containing up to 88 individual flats. The four buildings, in addition to another block, are collectively known by the owner as the West Kensington Estate.

Working around the challenges of an occupied building

Kier Places specialises in works on occupied buildings, and the four blocks were in use by residents throughout the works.

Our scope for the works was to replace the south-facing façade of each building with a new A1 fire rated rainscreen cladding system including fire barriers. In each case, the side requiring works centred on a sizeable external stairwell – a common area – meaning that residents were relatively unaffected and able to live in their flats throughout the project.

The panels being taken down contained asbestos, so once removed by a specialist firm and stripped back to block work, our team was able to get on site to complete the preparatory work. Working alongside other trades meant that we then needed to leave the site so that windows could be installed and return to complete our works once they were in place.

Choosing to work with an experienced subcontractor

The work involved installation of Duo Slab insulation, breather membrane and fire barriers, as well as final external cladding. An A1 rated rainscreen cladding solution was specified, with Valcan supplying the Vitrafix rails and brackets, as well as the Ceramapanel cladding.

Valcan Ceramapanel are compressed fibre cement cladding panels, particularly suited to modern residential buildings as they can be finished off-site, meaning an easy and efficient installation with less disruption for residents. In addition to this and their sound-dampening benefits, Ceramapanel’s high strength and durability make them ideal for projects that require a low-maintenance solution.

In terms of finish, 10mm thickness Ceramapanel Natural 1071 (through coloured in Warm Tile) with the contour line option was specified, which complemented the remaining exterior of the building well.

With no hoist available on site, manoeuvring the large panels proved to be a challenge and required two workers to lift each panel through several stories of scaffolding before installation. All logistics involved liaison between Eden Facades and Kier Places site management, and were successfully resolved through the teams working in collaboration.

Commenting on the completed project, David Allison, Quantity Surveyor with Kier Group said: “[The] client is very happy with [the] project and the works Eden have done have gone down well.”

Gabriel Jaiyeolya, Site Manager for Kier Places, also expressed how he found working alongside us on the project: “Eden Facades were a pleasure to work with throughout the process. They knew exactly what they were doing and got on with it, keeping us informed and working hard to keep the project on schedule.”

“Our relationship with Kier Group goes back many years,” adds Tony Hill, Managing Director at Eden Facades, “but it was great to be chosen right away to work with the new Kier Places division on one of their first projects. I look forward to working with them on many future contracts.”

Click here to find out more about our cladding remediation work, or to read more about our rainscreen cladding services. If you have any questions, or a project you would like to discuss, please get in touch on 01268 744199 or at office@edenfacades.co.uk.