88 Wood Street
88 Wood Street sits prominently in the City of London on a site formerly occupied by a 1920s telephone exchange. The iconic commercial skyscraper was designed by Richard Rogers Partnership in the late 1990s.
Its three linked office buildings are notable for their frameless glazed façades, visible bright yellow pipework and exterior lift shafts. Unusually, its structure is integrated into the architecture with supporting columns set well inside its perimeter and post-tensioned floors.
Professional Team:
Star Winner Enterprises Ltd / Knight Frank
Programme duration:
18 weeks
Value:
Up to £750k
In summary
Photographic condition and building services surveys
Isolations
Retention of some services requiring extensive track and trace
Installation of temporary supplies
Removal of fire alarm and installation of temporary system
Soft strip incl, MEP in line with specification
Protection of structural columns
Installation of temporary lighting
Investigation works
Deep clean and retention of RAFs
Installation of reused RAFs
Carving out a new finish
Roger’s signature style - instantly recognisable at 88 Wood Street – is only being enhanced while refurbishment works make the building fit for a new generation of business. General Demolition delivered strip out works across two huge floorplates as Knight Frank’s part refurbishment continued ahead of re-letting. This marked GD’s second project on site having previously worked on two higher floors.
General Demolition was brought in to undertake internal strip out works to the 6th and 7th floors, while surrounding ones remained occupied. With project parameters set, precision planning and early stakeholder engagement began. As luck would have it, we excelled in both areas.
The project
General Demolition undertook the internal strip out of the 10th and 11th floors. Vacant but sat between others that were live and operating around the clock … we expected no less from one of the world’s busiest financial districts!
A clear plan and early stakeholder engagement were critical and, happily, we maintained a solid focus and good relationships throughout the three-month programme.
Following isolations, installations of temporary supplies -including power, water and a wireless fire alarm – and protection to retained items, attention turned to the soft strip.
Start high
Work started on the 11th floor before the sequencing that the team adopted was replicated on the floor below. All architectural elements and finishes were removed by hand before internal walls were demolished. Arisings were taken down to the loading bay and processed before pre-booked vehicles swiftly carted them away from site for reuse or recycling. Careful management of this process was essential as the loading bay serviced all other tenants in the building.
And go higher
To the highest point in fact. The roof. Plant machinery serving the floors was carefully dismantled and removed.
PROJECT HIGHLIGHT
Numbers matter
Ask any banker. And we achieved a 98% recycling rate with all materials segregated at site according to their waste stream. This was matched by our 98% external audit score and surpassed by our delivery -on time and within budget.