Tubs Hill House, Sevenoaks - refurb

Tubs Hill House, Sevenoaks – refurb

Kent

Tubs Hill House is one of the tallest and most significant buildings in Sevenoaks – and is now known as Bourchier Court.

The brief was to give the two tired, nine-story 1960s office blocks a new lease of life as over 90 high-end apartments with business suite and courtyard gardens.

A²O were appointed to survey the existing building and manage the design and installation of a new envelope cladding system.

BUXTON BUILDING COntractors

“A²O exceeded their pre-contract commitments to us, specifically in terms of their design and management performance. They remained flexible on several programme issues whilst not compromising the completion date or end product. We would not hesitate to use A²O on future projects.”

Martyn Bairdow

Project Manager

Challenges

Very few drawings of the original buildings were available. The lack of original design information also made it difficult to determine the position of the existing structure.

Preliminary surveys carried out by the architect identified that the buildings were not plumb.

There were no existing gridlines or datums set. The condition of the existing slab was poor.

The fast track timeline on the project meant that cladding installation had to follow directly behind the demolition of the existing façade.

Solutions

A²O appointed a local building survey company to carry a point cloud survey of the existing towers. This survey was used to create new gridlines and datums for the existing structure.

The position of the SFS for the external walls was carefully determined, given that the buildings were neither square nor plumb. A²O’s engineer designed bespoke SFS base and head details to accommodate a non-standard cantilever and, in some areas, a poor slab edge finish.

Installation was carried out ‘top down’, working two floors away from the demolition contractor. The project was carefully managed to stay on programme as well as ensuring a safe install.