Invicta Building Services Ltd were delighted to be awarded the contract on behalf of Medway Council and JRS Building Services Ltd (the Contract Administrator), for the refurbishment of the plantroom serving Esmonde House and Flaxman’s Court in Gillingham. The plantroom provides heating and hot water services to the elderly residents in 40 properties in 2No 3-storey residential blocks.
The 12 week project involved the refurbishment of the ground floor boiler plant room which served Esmonde House and Flaxman’s Court including:
– New boilers and flues
– New plant bases to suit new plant
– Pumps sets
– Control panel and controls
– New hot water calorifiers
– New cold water storage tank and booster set.
– Plate Heat exchanger
– 2 Pressurisation units
The project and works followed a defined plan including but not limited to:
Tender stage
Site visit and surveys to ascertain the requirements, identify the nature of the site and access and delivery restrictions, potential health and safety risks to protect residents, site staff, and anyone else affected by our works, and to identify social values options.
Preparation of detailed programme of works with milestones, critical path, and float.
Following project award:
Pre-construction phase:
Provision of a Construction Phase Plan and detailed Risk Assessments which were followed and updated throughout the project
Concept details were provided by the Norman Bromley Partnership and these were enhanced into working drawings via surveys by our Head of Design Roger Alderton
The client provided recent asbestos reports which were checked
Prior to removing the plant and associated services we carried out a validation on the existing heating and hot water circuits and advised the CA on flow rates and pressure drops.
Residents were kept informed of upcoming works by letter drops, and information updates on notice boards and A-Frames which included the team’s contact details.
Construction phase:
A temporary boiler was installed to ensure continuity of supply for the residents at all times.
The temporary boiler plant was installed with tee connections and new isolations to eliminate additional shutdowns.
The removal of the existing Boilers, brackets, pipework controls, control panel conduit, trays, wiring and associated equipment were removed from site and waste was cleared on a regular basis and disposed of correctly
The decoration of the plantroom with 2 coats of paint on the walls, ceiling and floor.
Installation of 4No no Strebel S-CBX 125 Wall Hung Condensing Boilers, Strebel PHE-SSK 450kW Plate Heat Exchanger, 3No Grundfos pumps, Strebel 12 litre expansion vessel, pressurisation unit, 3No Strebel ATI CC 400 Indirect Calorifiers, Hydrotec Water Conditioning Unit, dial type pressure gauges and temperature gauges, new gas solenoid valve, medium weight steel LPHW heating pipework, boosted cold water system, hot water cylinders pipework and BEMS controls in the existing boiler rooms
Installation of 1no ‘form 2’ two-section wall mounted control panel by a Kent-based specialist contractor, Palace Tech Ltd, within the ground floor plant room.
Provision of a suitable flue liner for the discharge of flue gases from the condensing boilers to the existing chimney in Esmonde House
Provision of scaffolding to enable the flue liner to be installed was by CISRS accredited KAS Scaffolding.
2No cold water tanks were decommissioned from Esmonde House and Flaxman House roof voids following installation of the new cold water boosted system.
The whole system was flushed and chemically treated by a Kent-based specialist contractor, Clearflow, prior to handover.
After flushing and testing all hot, cold and mains water pipework for the whole building (Esmonde and Flaxman) and individual mains water was chlorinated
The boilers and installed system were pressure tested to manufacturer’s procedures at twice the working pressure for a period of one hour
Thermal insulation of all plantroom pipework with Kooltherm insulation phenolic foam.
Within the plantroom the insulating sections were insulated with foil faced rigid sections and covered with Isogenopak insulation cladding.
All new mechanical and electrical plant was labelled as per specification.
All new mechanical and electrical installations were tested and commissioned by a Specialist Commissioning Sub-contractor. This included:
– New boilers
– Controls
– Pumps
– Hot Water
– Heating
Completion of all builders work in communal areas and handover of heating and hot water system in full working order.
Handover was carried out with the Contract Administrator, John Richardson, during a site walk and demonstration meeting, to ensure that all works and workmanship had been completed to the client’s requirements.
The plantroom also incorporated a new cold water storage tank and cold water booster set.
Residents were kept updated by information updates on notice boards and A-Frames.
Inconvenience to residents was kept to a minimum by avoiding early starts, and arranging deliveries and waste removal at a time that avoided peak hours due to the residential location.
Post handover:
Provision of 12 months defects liability period maintenance contract and 24 hour emergency response cover.
The project was completed in 12 weeks during June and August 2023 on time and within budget.
The project was overseen by our Project Manager and an SMSTS qualified site supervisor. This management team met regularly with the Contract Administrator and provided updates and progress reports throughout the project.
Our Nebosh qualified health and safety manager made regular unannounced site visits during the project to ensure our compliance with CDM2015, with all current health and safety legislation such as The Health and Safety at Work Act (HASAWA) 1974, Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations (MHSWR) 1999, and all HSE Approved Codes of Practice. No accidents were reported during the project.
