Background

123 Victoria was refurbished to provide a high specification Retail, Commercial and CAT ‘A’ and ‘B’ Office development by Landsec. Despite its 21st century appearance the building is the complete refurbishment of a 1970s development which had seen much better days. Blue Thorn were engaged on this project by M J Lonsdale in late 2011 and was our first project for this client in the City Of London. We provided the Mechanical/Public Health Waterside and Airside Installation 3D model and installation drawings, Lead Coordination role with MACE and also Pre-fabrication drawing deliverables for the Mechanical Pipework package for the sadly since demised SFI fabrications.

Approach

Blue Thorn in close collaboration with the M J Lonsdale site team undertook detailed survey work to enable the provision of coordinated MEP solutions to all areas of this challenging refurbishment project. As the building had been originally constructed in the mid 1970’s, the availability of accurate construction information especially in the sprawling three levels of basement areas and in-use retail corridors was minimal and required extensive site attendance/survey time to accurately coordinate the new services installation. The Lead Coordination process provided by Blue Thorn was implemented by regular coordination forums with detailed solutions to routing and spatial issues being discussed in detail with MACE, Trade Contractors and the pro-active project architects Aukett Fitzroy Robinson who needed to change their design numerous times to facilitate the routing and installation of the MEP services. Blue Thorn were also engaged by the mechanical pipework installation and pre-fabrication company to provide drawing deliverables for the large Pump and Plant Skids in the B3 level, welded pipework spools and bracketry for the B1, B2, Retail Corridor Areas and Rooftop AHU Plantroom. As the building neared completion high profile tenant’s such as Jimmy Choo and the US software company Intuit entered into tenancy agreement’s with Landsec requiring CAT ‘A’ office space to be developed into CAT ‘B’ imposing further challenges to the project. 

Result

The completed building in the heart of the Victoria was a successful project for Blue Thorn and demonstrated our company capabilities showcasing our survey, management, 3D modelling and prefabrication detailing skillsets .The building is now nearly completely let by Landsec with other high profile tenant’s such as John Lewis, Bally UK and CPA global enjoying the high quality development provided by Landsec.