Hudson House – Dilapidations Case Study

Richard Page 29th April 2020 Case Study

Dilapidations and Repairs Contractor Hampshire Woodhams were contracted to carry out dilapidation and repairs to an office building and vault for a well-known finance brand. The building was built in 1979 and was initially let to WH Smith and used for warehousing. The building was then let to a British Bank who carried out substantial works to include full concrete security walls within the building shell; housing four large money holding vaults, eight safes and a full security citadel which held foreign currency on behalf of a number of British Banks.

Woodhams worked as a principal contractor to carry out the dilapidations and repairs to the building, reverting the building back the original design and finishes.

The work included heavy demolition within the rear of the building by removing the concrete security walls, HVAC plant and six industrial gas boilers. This was followed by the removal of all associated pipework, security fabricated 1st floor, ground floor raised access flooring, mezzanine steel structures and 4no security vaults. Removal of the bathrooms, security offices, all electrical supplies back to the MCC, the UPS system as well as the rewiring and re-commissioning of the standby generator. Repair works to the existing warehouse floor, re-decorations, new power supplies and lighting were also carried out. Woodhams also removed and replaced 60no. fixed panel skylights and sections of steel profiled roof and wall cladding.

In the office area, Woodhams removed the office furniture, suspended ceilings, office petitioning, floor coverings and air conditioning units. This was followed by the replacement of suspended ceilings, complete redecoration and rewiring of the fire alarm and electrical systems. On completion, Woodhams carried out testing and issued certificates for the gas, electrical and new fire alarm.

Woodhams also carried out the demolition of the rear loading bay and conducted tarmac repairs and road markings (white lining), as well as a complete repaint of all the exterior wall and roof sheeting in addition to the installation of armco barriers and palisade fencing.
A full time, fully-qualified, Site Manager ran the project with a full-time supervisor. They were supported by the Woodhams Contracts Manager and PM. The site team liaised with the client through all stages of the project, and where the client identified areas of improvement, these were actioned by our team swiftly. Weekly meetings alongside the programme allowed Woodhams to keep the project on time and within budget. This is highlighted by the fact Woodhams was successful in gaining additional orders for the site and have continued working with Travelex on other sites since. Demolition Contractor Surrey

Woodhams was the main contractor for the works – undertaking works both specialised and non-specialised. Woodhams provided a complete refurbishment package to the client which allowed the client to reduce the level of project management they had to undertake and therefore reduced their costs. Further to this, as Woodhams was responsible for the entire package, we had full responsibility for the quality plan. Woodhams also functioned as the CDM principle contractor. This ensured high quality across the entire site.

To ensure Woodhams adhered to the specification, the site supervisor was provided with a full schedule of works and specification document. This allowed them to conduct daily checks and ensure that all work completed each day was to the specification laid out. Where the work wasn’t, he would create an internal ‘snag’ list which would then be actioned by the relevant trade with information sent to the project manager to review on the next site visit.

Throughout the project there were several changes communicated to us through weekly meetings, daily briefings and telephone/email communication. This was extremely important when the additional building control consultation was required. Woodhams adapted this and our project manager worked with both building control and the client to change the design. This also changed the resourcing of personnel. The project manager checked the design, but also the work completed against the programme. Resources were then moved around the project from areas that were ahead to areas that needed to be improved. This meant that Woodhams was able to maintain a solid programme.

Our apprentice worked on this project and was therefore able to develop his theoretical skills from college into a practical example. This training ethos goes throughout the business and we often spread our training budget throughout the company to develop staff with an overall view of the entire project. This allows them to gain the skills for the future to move forward into both our supervisor and manager positions. This scheme works in conjunction with our existing training scheme which sees the company spend significant amounts on training for all levels of staff including NVQs, degrees and management/vocational CPCS/CSCS qualifications, of which, all our staff hold at least one of.

Communication on the project worked in line with our standard communication policies, this included weekly meetings, daily briefings and site visits. As a result, the client was extremely pleased with our work to the extent we have expanded our relationship with them. This communication extended to the operatives onsite who have regular daily briefings and our project manager who made weekly site visits.

A testimonial from the client:

“We engaged Woodhams to undertake a large dilapidations contract to convert a fully functional cash processing centre back into a normal open plan warehouse and office area.

Their technical knowledge was evident from the start, as they asked many questions during the tender evaluation phase to ensure they fully understood the brief, in what was a challenging and complex set of requirements.

Once the contract was awarded to them, based on their technical expertise and incredibly competitive quote, their professionalism shone through very quickly and we realised we had made the right decision to engage with them.

They mobilised all of the site staff efficiently and expeditiously and managed the whole project extremely professionally and with minimal fuss. They set up an exemplary Health and Safety procedures and backed this up with on-site manuals and the monitoring of compliance to the procedures.

Their on-site management team was extremely professional and always engaged with us in a very proactive way. They completed the project to time and slightly under-budget, further enforcing their knowledge and expertise in this complex field.

I would not hesitate to recommend Woodhams to any other potential customer and we will certainly be using their services again in the future. Well done on delivering a complex project in a thoroughly professional manner.”