The path to transforming The Quant Building was fraught with hurdles, each demanding a unique solution:

1. Navigating Incomplete Designs: We were initially provided with only a basic design framework and draft designs that required a lot of work and far more detail. We collaborated with the client’s design team on the main build plans, and then with specialist firms on the smoke and ventilation designs which were left incomplete. We refer to this as a challenge because you might expect more design clarity at the outset of a multimillion-pound project. However, the reality is that we regularly work with clients who need our help to turn their property visions into built reality, via the medium of completed sketches, renders and plans, so, while it was a challenge, it was an infinitely manageable one.
2. Adapting to Regulatory Changes: The project’s timing coincided with the introduction of new smoke ventilation regulations. No description was provided by the project’s architect, so it was left to us to identify a workable solution that met regulatory needs and ensured occupant safety without compromise. We identified an existing unused dumb waiter shaft which met the size requirements for a compliant smoke shaft, but it was already full of various services, intercom controls, and numerous old concrete plinths projected out into the shaft. We had to reroute the utilities, investigate each plinth to ensure that its removal would not have a structural impact on the building and empty out the shaft. Then the space was fireproofed, extended up the two new storeys we’d built and new openings were created for smoke dampers. Five new bespoke AOV windows were also needed, communal spaces in the building required new smoke detectors and a smoke control system was installed. All this work had to be undertaken in collaboration with the occupiers of the 60 properties in the existing four storeys of the building as utilities had to be turned off and on and communal spaces were worked in.
3. Maintaining Resident Harmony: The existing occupants of the building were a priority for us and our client. It was important to keep them onside as their collaboration was vital to keep to the deadline our client had set us at the outset of this project. We devised a plan to minimise disruption, scheduling work strictly between the hours of 8am and 6pm while most of the residents of the building were at work, minimising noise and craning in most materials to avoid bringing them through the building’s communal areas. It was a logistical ballet, but it was important to ensure a peaceful coexistence with those who lived there.