Harold Wilson Court

Name: One Darnley Road
Price range: $

Huddersfield, UK

Services

Sectors

Residential

People

PROJECT OVERVIEW

Enhancing the safety of residents across Kirklees

To ensure the wellbeing of residents living in Harold Wilson Court, a high-rise block of flats in the heart of Huddersfield, we led a circa £4m project on behalf of Kirklees Council Homes and Neighbourhoods.

The 11-storey building is one of around 22,000 homes managed by Kirklees Council’s housing arm, providing services across the borough.

The scheme is part of a wider scope of investigation and fire improvement work across a three-year programme at 35 residential blocks, including high and medium rise buildings and retirement living schemes.

As part of our role, we acted as lead consultant, designer, project manager, employer’s agent and Principal Designer, as well as leading an experienced multidisciplinary team of fire engineers, structural engineers, MEP engineers and quantity surveyors.

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investigations

Providing a detailed scope for major enhancements

Providing a detailed scope for each building in this major programme of works, we carried out comprehensive building fabric assessments and a range of in-depth investigation works.

Providing detailed as-built imagery to support the design, our in-house geomatic consultancy team used laser scanners to gather information from the building and create an accurate model.

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SAFETY ENHANCEMENTS

Protecting the residents of a town centre high-rise

Ensuring the residents of Harold Wilson Court are alerted in the case of a fire, new fire safety systems were installed in the building, including Part 1 and Part 6 alarms, as well as an Evacuation Alert System.

Designed to prevent the spread of a fire by helping to keep it contained, new fire-rated internal windows and new sprinklers have been installed throughout, and an enhanced render system, which meets the requirements of new fire regulations, has been provided.

To further reduce the impact of an internal fire, extensive works were undertaken to fire stop all compartment lines and also to remediate issues with the existing construction, by infilling gaps in the internal-to-external building line. All of this has enhanced the buildings’ compartmentation.

Additional safety enhancements include works to the residents’ balconies, by providing newly designed balustrades. This had the effect of reducing the fire risk on the external facades.

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CAREFUL PLANNING

Safely delivering major fire improvements

To accommodate the works and ensure safety of the residents, designated void properties were brought up to respite or decant status and residents were welcomed into these areas while the works were being undertaken in their properties.

Minimising disruption and ensuring the successful delivery of this complex scheme, we supported Kirklees Council with regular stakeholder engagement and provided frequent updates to both our client and the residents.

Our in-house Principal Designer managed the safety of the site throughout the works on site.