Embankment West was an extensive project that required a large scope of works and a great deal of precision. Measom were responsible for carrying out the full drylining package and plastering on the walls and ceilings, ensuring that a flawless and high-quality finish was maintained throughout. As the project was caught in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, the whole team had to adapt to the new changes to the workplace and work was paused for 2 weeks due to lockdown restrictions. We successfully managed to resume work following the new COVID guidelines with no health and safety issues.
The project consisted of the construction of an apart hotel tower block (City Suites 2) and two luxury apartment blocks (Laurence Place and Exchange Point). To find out more about Laurence Place and Exchange Point, read more here.
The Apart Hotel Tower Block, City Suites 2, is an 18-storey building with an amenity area consisting of approximately 150nr mixed sized luxury apart hotels including 1, 2, 3 bed and super-suites. The development features a spectacular swimming pool, gym and amenity area
The scope of works consisted of;
- Rockwool cavity insulation & SFS lining boards
- Novia VCL
- Positioning & installation of the large bathroom pods
- Soffit insulation
- Partitions – Party walls/ shaftwalls & internal partitions
- Ceilings – MF & Lay-in grid
- Plastering
- Acoustic corridor ceilings
- Fire rated riser doors & access hatches
To combat the noise of the live railway tracks, we lined the north facing building with 3 layers of British Gypsum Soundbloc and the south facing building with 2 layers of British Gypsum Soundbloc.
In the main reception area and hotel rooms, we installed numerous ventilation grills as the client requested for continuous airflow in the building. A key feature of the area is a large circular bulkhead consisting of two layers of 6mm of Glasroc board used to form the curve, it was important to not break it due to the thinness of the board and the material. Lastly the bulkhead is plastered to create a clean and smooth finish as desired.
Inside the swimming pool, the walls are lined with tiles and the MF ceilings are 6m high, lined with British Gypsum tile backer board. Bulkheads have been installed around the perimeter to house the LED lights. Expansion joints were made down in the middle of the swimming pool and around the perimeter, then painted with Sikagard paint. As it is such a large room, expansion was required. The gym features an acoustic ceiling for noise reduction.
Each room contains its own bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, and a small living space. We were responsible for carrying out our usual work involving the walls, ceilings and forming openings for grills and lights. However, the kitchen and bathroom had different requirements. For the kitchen, we had to install a low-level rip as opposed to the top-down approach for the M&E services & access requirements. The bathroom pods were delivered to site and then installed by us. We had to level and secure them through drywall.
The corridor partitions walls and concrete column interfaces with the ecophon lay in grid ceiling system which meant that we encountered some difficulty in creating a smooth finish. Due to the design of the interfaces, the partition walls breach the hallway walls creating bumps that we had to overcome to make it look seamless. In the middle of the hallways are individual apartment riser closets which are encased by fire rated doors. A shaft wall has been partitioned to house all the services, which will contain fire for two hours.
One of the requirements from the client was to install a Soffit installation inside the tank room, which was challenging due to the limited space in the room and the height of the room. To overcome this, we began working from the top of the tank and added a bird cage scaffolding around the tank.
“City Suites 2 certainly was an interesting build; one that was not without its fair share of challenges. But we had a great team and it was a pleasure to be working alongside SRM to overcome these, and the end result is something we can be proud of.”
Marcel Aspden, Site Supervisor, Measom
MDL are proud of what we have delivered and achieved with Sir Robert McAlpine on this scheme during the circumstances thrown up with the pandemic and through this process have created a great working relationship and would like to thank all involved.