Office
Properties and office developments present a range of
challenging environments with. Kimpton has a proven track record
across a range of new build and refurbishment office projects as
well as other larger commercial enterprises such as leisure and
tourist attractions.
Zenith House
Consumer Products
Manufacturer
Bruntwoods - The
Plaza
Halliwell
Solicitors
News International
Silverbeck Rymer
Zenith House
The Client
As a leading name in the financial sector, NFU Mutual have been
providing financial services for over 100 years. Since moving
outside of the farming community and offering their products and
services to individuals and businesses alike they have seen
significant growth.
As part of their continued expansion in the north NFU Mutual had
outgrown their existing office in York and acquired Zenith House
knowing that it gave them room for further expansion.
The Challenge
Already established in York, NFU Mutual tasked their project
managers, PSK, with developing and refurbishing Zenith House. The
existing 10 year old 3 storey office building with 2 storey annex
was to be refurbished within a 4 month time constraint, to provide
an improved working environment for their staff.
NU Construction were appointed as main contractor, whilst under
a separate competitive tender Kimpton Building Services were
appointed as the mechanical services Design & Build
specialists.
The Solution
The existing comfort conditioning systems, comprising 3 air
handling units and 107 ducted fan coil units providing heating and
cooling were to be retained.
Kimpton's were responsible for servicing all of the existing
systems and adapting them to suit the new office and meeting room
layouts. Additional cooling was installed to supplement the
existing systems where IT rooms were created.
Kimpton invested considerable resource into servicing the
existing equipment, flushing and cleaning existing pipework systems
and upgrading the existing control system to ensure a fully
functional system was handed back to the client.
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Consumer Products Manufacturer
The Client
From its roots as a soap manufacturer in the 1890s, this major
multi-national has grown to a company offering more than 400 brands
across a diverse range of sectors including nutrition, hygiene and
personal care. Its products range from soup to soap and are used by
150 million people worldwide.
The Challenge
A company of this size relies on efficient IT
services to maintain its day to day operations. So when
the client decided to restructure its IT provision
and rationalise its services at a single site, a suitable office
building was identified in a semi-rural location close to the Welsh
border on the Wirral.
The company was aware that to attract the best IT
personnel from around Europe it would have to ensure its
new European IT HQ provided a very high standard
of accommodation, so a £3 million refurbishment was
commissioned.
The Solution
Offering the client a turnkey solution for delivering the whole
project, Kimpton Building Services, Trustland
Construction and The Rosebery Group worked together as TKR to
tackle the refurbishment project.
As part of the design & build project, TKR carried out all
civil engineering, mechanical and
electrical works to the building, completing structural
and civil modifications to the building as required. The building
had been fitted out in a very traditional style for the previous
occupier, so wood panelling had to be removed and replaced with
suspended ceilings, partitioning and an integrated
raised computer flooring system.
To provide a comfortable working environment, TKR installed new
heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems,
and security systems were also given a high priority with features
including fire alarm and detection systems,
CCTV and card access all forming part of the
project.
The project also involved complex electrical fit out, including
category 5e, fibre optic and multipair backbone
cabling systems. TKR manufactured and supplied electrical
switchgear and control panel equipment and installed
standby power generation and UPS
systems to ensure the building remains operational in the
event of an electrical outage.
The 29-week project was completed on time and within budget.
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Bruntwoods - The
Plaza
The Client
A leading name in the property world, Bruntwood owns more than
80 commercial properties in Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds and
Birmingham. The company takes a service-led approach to answering
the needs of its 800 customers and superior management and
presentation of its buildings are central to its proposition.
The Challenge
Already one of the biggest names in property in Manchester,
Bruntwood was rapidly establishing a strong presence in Liverpool
when the company bought 100 Old Hall Street, the city's biggest
office building.
Named 'The Plaza', the building required
refurbishment to bring it up to Bruntwood's
demanding standards. The first two storeys to be refurbished were
floors 11 and 12 with a combined floorplate of 54,000 sq ft, and
both strip out and refit had to take place while the remainder of
the building remained occupied.
In addition, plant feeding the upper storeys was located on
floors 11 and 12 and the contractors had to retain this and work
around it.
The Solution
Initially asked to quote for installation of the air
conditioning system, Kimpton Building Services joined
forces with Trustlands Construction and the Rosebery Group as TKR,
a partnership that could deliver a one-stop-shop
refurbishment project.
The consortium completed all strip out of the two floors before
beginning a refit that included installation of suspended ceilings,
all joinery work, tiling, new toilet areas, new lift fascias and
new lobbies.
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Halliwell
Solicitors
The Client
Halliwells is the fastest growing commercial law firm in the UK
with offices in Manchester, Liverpool, London and Sheffield. At
various times its offices have required the installation of new
air conditioning units or the replacement of old
systems and Kimpton has worked with the firm extensively on these
projects.
The Projects
Kimpton works closely with Halliwells' facilities department
across all its northern offices, carrying out quarterly
preventative maintenance on all equipment as well
as emergency call-out repairs and new
installations. In Manchester, where Halliwells' head office is
located, this covers five separate building locations.
Kimpton's ongoing work for Halliwells was typified by one recent
project at the company's office in the City Plaza development in
Liverpool city centre. It was critical to avoid overheating in the
main communications room which houses all IT cabinets and
equipment.
The Solution
Suitable ambient temperatures were restored by installing a
split air conditioning system.
Kimpton Air Conditioning division's
installation comprised of a condenser on the offices' third floor
roof from which pipe work was installed up a riser to the ceiling
void in Halliwells' seventh floor office and then out into the
communications room to serve the ceiling mounted cassette. All of
these works were performed causing minimal disruption to the office
staff.
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News International
The Client
The main UK subsidiary of News Corporation, News International
is a major publisher of some of the country's leading national and
Sunday newspapers including The Sun, The News of the World, The
Times and The Sunday Times.
Its plant in Knowsley, Merseyside, houses some eight printing
presses and is responsible for production and distribution of
newspapers across the North of England.
The Project
Kimpton Service & Maintenance Division has been retained as
the site's sole provider of planned preventative
maintenance (PPM) for the past 10 years, completing
regular maintenance checks on all boiler and air
conditioning equipment to maintain ambient temperatures
for up to 400 on-site employees.
In addition to PPM, Kimpton is also
periodically appointed to handle specific design and
installation projects throughout the building and
the latest has involved a new air conditioning system installed as
part of a brand new production office suite.
The Solution
The new 220m2 open plan and cellular office space will be used
as a print production meeting suite and heating and cooling of the
facility will be delivered by a Mitsubishi VRF
unit. Kimpton engineers have installed a heat recovery condensing
unit externally which in turn connects onto a branch box controller
which is positioned in the ceiling space of the manufacturing
suite. A number of slim line ducted units are installed within the
ceiling space providing conditioned air to each office area via
insulated duct work and diffusers.
The project has been completed over a three month period with
minimum disruption and inconvenience to facilities and
employees.
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Silverbeck Rymer
Solicitors
The Client
A specialist litigation practice with expertise in claimant,
defendant and fraud services, Silverbeck Rymer Solicitors operates
out of regional offices in Chelmsford and Manchester as well as its
new head office in Liverpool, a site on which Kimpton has been
extensively involved.
The Project
Silverbecks recognised the potential benefit of an open plan
office but due to the size of its practice was unable to achieve
its aim within Liverpool City Centre.
Instead it chose to refurbish a 30,000 sq. ft. dockside
warehouse within a couple of minutes' drive of the courts. The
conversion of what was originally a grain warehouse into state of
the art luxury offices represented a new challenge for Kimpton.
A fully occupied office dictated a cooling requirement of
approximately 500Kw. The client was eager to maintain the cavernous
ceilings for aesthetic reasons and the systems chosen needed to be
sympathetic to this design.
The Solution
Kimpton proposed the use of low velocity textile ducting to
convey conditioned air in a draught-free manner to the open areas,
whilst more conventional VRF systems were used
under the mezzanine and in meeting rooms. The system's efficiency
was enhanced via the introduction of modulating gas
burners, frequency inverting motors and de-stratisfication
fan sets.
All of this, from design to commissioning, had to be completed
within a five month period.
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