Len House
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Client
Bauvill Ltd
Site
Len House, Maidstone, Kent
Duration
1 year, 1 month
Services Used
Demolition
Situated alongside the River Len in the centre of Maidstone, Len House (also known as the Rootes Building) is a modernist architectural landmark in Kent’s County town. Having been vacated in 2019 by the Robins & Day Peugeot dealership, the building had been left unused for over a year due to previous failures to secure new tenants. Funding and planning approval was required for a redevelopment of the building, with site owner Classicus Estates proposing £30,000,000 transformative plans for the Grade II listed landmark which were approved in the Summer of 2020.
The plans centred around the restoration of Len House for a mix of commercial space, 159 new homes and a riverside public square.
Though the planned commencement date for works (April 2021) was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the enabling works were undertaken throughout 2022 and 2023, and the development is currently still ongoing as of April 2024.
Employed by Bauvill, the Main Contractor for the Project, Goody Demolition were contracted to carry out the early phase demolition and enabling works for the Project, to facilitate the renovation and regeneration of the building. The alterations and refurbishment of the existing listed property will allow the developer Classicus Estates to construct new Penthouse residential space.
GDL scope of works encompassed extensive asbestos removal (including administration of notifications as required to the HSE), removal of all debris/waste/pigeon guano etc. from within the existing building, removal of all redundant fencing across the site, removal of trees identified for removal and installation of protective measures for those that were to remain, engagement and liaison with Temporary Works engineers throughout the Project to facilitate installation, maintenance and subsequent removal of extensive, complex temporary works, removal of all existing services, forming/widening openings, removal of walls and grubbing up of associated foundations, saw cutting, installation of access scaffolding internally, general strip out and internal demolitions, removal of plant from rooftops, removal of all demolition waste, protection of remaining live services and a CCTV survey and clearing of underground pipes.
The Rootes Building is situated adjacent to Mill Pond, a geographical feature of the River Len, and as such required us to implement extensive watercourse protection measures to prevent any pollution and contamination. Due to the site being deemed of moderate risk from surface water runoff, with onsite drainage potentially directly discharging into the River, we had to ensure extra precautions were in place to prevent spills and reduce run-off, including sand bags and silt fences as well as maintaining extensive site cleaning procedures throughout the works.
The Len House regeneration project is one being closely followed by the surrounding community, due to its prominent town centre location and extensive history. We installed extensive protective measures to safeguard the public, including scaffold protection adjacent to pavements and tunnels to maintain access. Mitigation measures were utilised to reduce noise, dust and vibration as well as preventing these affecting our neighbours.
Len House is a listed building, and as such to allow for the ‘cut & carve’ / structural modification works to commence there were required to be extensive protective measures in place to appease the Listed Building Consent. These included listed towers which required needling beam design and supports, propping and bracing to areas which were to be retained, as well as façade retention to multiple elevations. The intended refurbishment works were sensitive to the history of the building.
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