New opening Time and budget
Construction of Signature at Highgate took two years, courtesy of main contractor Wates Construction. Inevitably, with a project of this size and scale, there were delays and bumps along the road. Despite being a fixed price job, Signature did ultimately pay a little more than the original price, although Wayne tells me that this fell within allowed budgetary contingencies. The project was completed around six months late, but again, Signature were able to make allowances for this. “We knew six months out that we were behind,” Wayne says. “As you can imagine, the day that you open, or [the day that] the building’s finished, you’ve got your CQC regulatory approval, so you need to be staffed, trained, fully fitted out, equipped, ready for your inspection. And that is a six-month lead-in program for Signature, for all of the recruitment and training and everything that needs to happen. So, when the CQC come in and inspect us, we won’t have a resident here but we’re absolutely ready to open. And, if a month before we’re due to get the building, we realise it’s going to be late, that’s a major problem. [But] six months before, we can reset our opening program. “So, we did have visibility on the lateness and we were able to mitigate it. We got our
Suppliers list
Contractor: Wates Construction CCTV Safety Monitoring: Care Protect Circadian lighting: Thorlux Lighting Kitchen install: Inox Electrolux washing machines & heat pump dryers: supplied & installed by Inox Seating & soft furnishings: Jamesons & Protocol Nurse call equipment: ENS
CQC approval in late November and the first resident moved in early December of 2023.”
The importance of sustainability Building in London comes with certain obligations, not least as regards sustainability. “We’ve got the London Plan that we need to adhere to,” says Wayne. “We’ve got carbon offsetting that we need to provide, and we’ve got more robust sustainability measures than if we were building outside of London, which adds considerably to the cost.” The Greater London Authority Act
1999 requires that the Authority produces a plan that includes within its scope the Authority’s commitment to sustainable development.
“This building has 80 PV panels on the roof,” Wayne continues. “We’ve got Air Source Heat Pumps. The building’s electric. We’re BREEAM [Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method] Very Good.”
“The majority of energy is generated by [the] heat pumps,” says Wayne. “Gas is only used to supplement domestic water temperature, increasing it from around 50°C to 60°C. The heat pumps generate about 85-90 per cent of the energy, while gas provides the remaining 10-15 per cent. “It’s difficult to determine the exact energy usage for hot water, cooling, heating, and hot water generation, as it varies throughout the year. During the design stage, we need to ensure that the plant is sized for peak conditions that occur several times a year. A digital twin model can provide a more detailed assessment, but as we are dealing with a live project, the best approach would be to analyse real-time usage data. “We would be very interested in looking
March 2024
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