Schools & Hospitals > Avenue House

Project Report

Architect: Challice Architects
Client: West of England Friends Housing Society
Main Contractor: Ken Biggs Contractors Ltd
Requirements 

The brief was to bring this residential home up to the building regulations and new government standards by upgrading this Victorian property with two-storey extension block from the 1960’s, to provide en-suite bathrooms for its 30 residents, an additional lounge and lift, and an extended dining room.  The building’s kitchen has also been relocated and extended as part of the scheme.

Construction

Throughout the works residents remained in occupation which created significant challenges, particularly in relation to noise during construction and maintaining access to the building.  Therefore careful planning and execution was required during the improvements.

The project was divided into five phases to reduce the disruption as much as possible.  Our Site Manager suggested a number of improvements to the original contract programme that saved time and further inconvenience to the residents.

To provide every resident with en-suite facilities the large rooms in the Victorian section of the building have been partitioned to create bathrooms.

Unfortunately this reduced the overall space, so to maintain Avenue House’s 30 person capacity new en-suite bedrooms have been created.  These extra units, along with the new lounge have been accommodated by adding a new storey to the 1960’s portion of the building.  The extension was created by constructing a timber frame unit with cedar boarding and a zinc roof, which offers excellent thermal performance and keeps energy costs down.
A second extension has been built to house a new lift, which gives everyone at the home access to every part of the building, in line with modern building requirements.  An additional lift was also added to the building’s entrance area.

As part of the project four new boilers were also fitted, overhauling the existing heating system and all of the building’s windows were also replaced with double glazed units to reduce heat loss and fuel bills.

When the scheme was completed in early April both the client and residents expressed their delight in the new facilities.  By liaising closing with the client and architect we managed to maintain a good working relationship to ensure a scheme with many potential problems turned into a significant success.

Value £1.25 million