09/09/2011 - Lancaster House wins Architectural Project of the Year
Thomas Vale Construction and Sandwell Homes scooped the Architectural Project of the Year award at the Association for Project Safety (APS) Awards.
Lancaster House, situated in Oldbury won the national award for excellence in Design and Construction Health and Safety Risk Management, in which Thomas Vale played a very big part.
The ten story block underwent a major £8 million refurbishment as part of the Decent Homes Programme, a Government initiative which aims to invest in areas across the UK and provide better accommodation for local communities in attempts to bring about more sustainable communities. Lancaster House is the largest project of the Sandwell Decent Homes Partnership which has invested in excess of £350 million into several towns in Sandwell to boost the Midlands area.
The project carried out by Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council’s in-house Urban Design team and Thomas Vale Construction saw both the internal and external refurbishment to the 1960’s tower block. The block which is very visible from the M5 motorway showed degradation of the brickwork and concrete structure as well as roof problems following various structural surveys.
During the 85 week project, the building underwent numerous improvements including brickwork and concrete repairs with an external overcoat to improve both the aesthetics and insulation of the building. New windows were fitted to the properties to replace the existing single glazed windows which allowed excessive heat loss and high traffic noise, causing health problems for tenants. New balcony panels were also fitted, as well as canopies to the front entrance, and a new laundry and community room. Further repairs included lift refurbishment, communal area decoration, landscaping, new parking facilities, fire precautionary work and 8 new two-bedroom flats built onto the existing structure. The new design of the block also comprised of a new aluminium curved profile roof which incorporates a Mansafe system to ensure safe access for future maintenance.
The aims of the refurbishment were to extend the life of the building and reduce maintenance, whilst also working towards sustainable development. The choice of materials used on the project was considered carefully to ensure a more energy efficient and sustainable building was achieved at the end of the build. The new windows fitted to the building involve a component design so that they tilt and turn and open inwards so that cleaning and glass replacement can be carried out from within the flats, significantly reducing any health and safety risks.
The contract chosen was the NEC3 Engineering and Construction Contract and the use of this partnering contract allowed the contractor to be involved from the initial inception and feasibility stage. This meant that health and safety issues could be brought to the forefront of the scheme and form a major part of the design development.
Tony Hyde, Managing Director of Thomas Vale commented:
“Thomas Vale Construction is proud to be a part of this project; I would like to take this opportunity on behalf of the company and congratulate Sandwell Decent Homes on their achievement and wish them many more successes in the future.”
Lancaster House has been a major project for Sandwell Decent Homes and Thomas Vale, and will go some way toward addressing the current waiting list for council properties. It has already seen various awards and recognitions including Tenant Liaison Officer of the Year at the TPAS Awards where Daryll Pritchett from Thomas Vale was recognised for her exemplary community efforts and hard work on the project. The project also achieved Demonstration programme status by WMMCE and has been accepted by the West Midlands Centre for Constructing Excellence as an Exemplar Scheme.
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