Devon House, 1 St Katherine’s Way

Strip Out and Enabling

Client: Blackstone
Project: Devon House, 1 St Katherine’s Way

Brief Description

KpH Deconstruction was the Principle Contractor of an 18 week Strip Out and Enabling project at Devon House, which was successfully delivered to the client, Blackstone, through their Management Team, Beadmans.

Devon House is a 7 storey office building situated at the prestigious St Katherine’s Dock on the North Bank of the River Thames.

The works were agreed in two phases which ran concurrently; requiring careful planning and coordination. This consisted of soft strip back to core and shell throughout the Ground Floor to Level 5, including a number of outside terraces.

The main challenge on this project was to carefully consider and manage the needs of the local residents and their Resident’s Association. The building was bordered on three sides by high profile residential properties and strict working restrictions were in place to minimise the disturbance to the community. As well as adhering to these restrictions, the following measures were also put in place to reduce noise and vibration levels:

  • A lengthy investigation/survey was carried out to identify key areas of concern for vibration damage.
  • Fortnightly Newsletters and regular meetings were held to keep residents informed of works schedules (to help them plan around noisy work periods and manage expectations), and to resolve any issues that arose.
  • Noise Monitoring Sensors were installed on the Ground Floor, Floor 1 and 2 to make sure acceptable noise and vibration levels were maintained at agreed times.
  • Tools and machinery were checked and serviced regularly to ensure they worked efficiently and effectively.
  • A 2 metre acoustic curtain from the boundary wall was erected to serve as a noise deflector.

The prolonged dry weather that we experienced during this project challenged us further by producing excessive dust on site. In order to make sure this did not disturb passers by and local residents, water spraying facilities were used to damp-down the dust and strategic areas were contained with sheeting. We also directed waste removal to the East of the building for the consideration of the neighbours along St Katherine’s Way.

The Mechanical and Electrical (M&E) scope called for certain panels, feeds and services to be kept operational throughout the project. Some of these live feeds (for example: dock pontoons, street lighting, tenant’s security road barrier and a booster set for cameras) serviced external parties/users. It was therefore imperative that works were planned carefully to protect these live services.

Scope of Works

Strip out and removal of the following:

  • Floor Coverings and Raised
    Access Floor (RAF);
  • Partitions;
  • Suspended Ceiling and Tiles;
  • redundant M&E Services
    back to risers;
  • Toilets and associated
    sanitary ware;
  • four Passenger Lifts and one Good Lift along with its shaft walls (scaffolding and edge protection were then installed to make safe);
  • Coverings (Stones, Paving Slabs and Insulation) from the Roof Terraces;
  • Chillers, Diesel Generator, Boilers, a Water Tank and all redundant M&E from the Basement.

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