Refurb of Live Police Station

Awarded under the Metropolitan Police/MOPAC Building Works Framework, Baxall undertook this extensive live/occupied refurbishment (Phases 1 & 2) project to renovate a multi-departmental police office building in South East London, including all mechanical and electrical.

The scope of works involved the internal refurbishment of approximately 4,000m² of office space to provide an open plan, agile working space for various MET Police departments (not including front line officers). Existing mechanical plant was retained wherever possible, accounting for approximately 75% of the office space.

Baxall’s experienced site team overcame countless logistical and operational challenges to minimise disruption since the building was live and occupied for the programme duration.

To streamline works and mitigate disturbance to end users, Baxall’s Project Manager developed and implemented a robust phasing plan to complete Zone A (1st floor) enabling existing police staff to decant from Block B ready for works to be completed in that area.

A key challenge was managing the daily needs of multiple end users, all with varying requirements. To successfully address this Baxall instigated early and collaborative engagement with the MPS delivery team and representatives of the end users’ departments, working closely with them to provide the space and services for multiple staff to relocate within the building yet without disrupting work patterns.

This not only included maintaining welfare and life safety services but fully functioning IT, emergency safety systems and AV, along with clear access/egress to and through the building.

Weekly meetings with key end users and the Building Manager helped to streamline forward planning and mitigate any adverse impact. Baxall also employed alternative construction methods (such as diamond sawing the concrete instead of hammer drilling) to keep noise disruption to an absolute minimum, and gave the building’s end users ample notice of upcoming disruptive works enabling staff to plan working from different offices or from home.

To safely control site access and egress points all deliveries were scheduled in advance to avoid peak traffic congestion, before being escorted by a walking banksman from the entrance gate to the point of unloading. They were then escorted back out to the gate/highway.

Upon completion, the police office building was handed over defect-free with all testing and commissioning fully demonstrated to the Building Manager and Facilities Team.

Following practical completion Baxall’s Site Manager made monthly site visits (for six months) to ensure the building’s systems were running smoothly.

The refurbished premises provide a modernised facility, delivered on time, budget and to exceptional standards of quality. Having been highly impressed with the team’s performance and delivery, the client directly awarded Baxall the contract for Phase 3 of additional refurbishment works within the building.

Under the Considerate Constructors Scheme, the delivery team scored an impressive 43 out of 50 points.

“I was very impressed with the Baxall team – they demonstrated professionalism, attention to the detail of the project and maintained the operational needs of the users on site effectively and responsibly.”

Dave Whittingham, Atos Project Management