VolkerFitzpatrick completes Essoldo House, located on London’s King’s Road.
The VolkerFitzpatrick team recently completed a £20 million design and build project on behalf of IIona House Securities Ltd.
The new building, located on the corner of the King’s Road and Old Church Street, sits on a 800m2 site and contains street level retail units, a three-screen boutique cinema, managed by the Everyman Group, and three levels of bespoke residential apartments, comprising 11, one, two and three-bed apartments.
VolkerFitzpatrick worked closely with the architectural team to use carefully selected materials that create a distinctive curved façade, and cover the exterior in sand-coloured Danish Peterson bricks, ensuring the finished look blends with the local surroundings.
The project, which began in February 2017, saw the team demolish the original building and worked with a sister business, VolkerGround Engineering, on the formation of the waterproof concrete basement, in order to create a distinctive design which included a new structure for parking and plant.
Throughout the project, the team worked strategically to overcome several challenges, including the physical constraints of building a development on one of Chelsea’s busiest crossroads, and one of London’s most expensive one-way residential streets, without receiving a single complaint. Alongside this, the team was also tasked with resolving a number of complex design challenges, including the acoustics for the cinema, the curved glazing and rotunda glass turret.
During the build, the project received the 2018 Considerate Constructors Scheme certificate for ‘Performance Beyond Compliance’, and the 2019 ‘Certificate of Excellence’. The team worked collaboratively with the client to ensure community engagement was key throughout the project, and maintained consistent communication with the local neighbours, through newsletters and the local council. This ensured they were always kept up to date, especially when the project was delayed by the restrictions placed on the site, by Covid-19.
Stuart Deverill, managing director of VolkerFitzpatrick’s Building division, said: “Under challenging circumstances, both in terms of Covid-19 and the location of the project, the team worked tirelessly to deliver this impressive development. The high-quality specification of this building along with the architectural design, demonstrates our abilities for high-quality construction and fit out.”