The team was challenged with building the new warehouse unit, filling in the space between two existing facilities. As well as constructing the new building’s steel framework and exterior façades, the works included relocating and increasing car parking facilities as well as the installation of foul and storm water drainage. The team also adapted all incoming utilities for the building and provided soft and hard landscaping across the site.

The original building’s roofline was notably lower than the two units on either side, so part of VolkerFitzpatrick’s remit was to increase the overall height of the new build to 10.6 metres, in line with its neighbours.

Continuous communication

With tenants operating out of the two adjacent units throughout the duration of the project, it was important to keep disruption to a minimum. VolkerFitzpatrick maintained continuous communication with the neighbouring businesses during the planning and delivery phases, to ensure the process ran as smoothly as possible. 

The project team faced another challenge with the discovery of underground obstructions, which had not been identified by third party site surveys, prior to the start of the project. These included old bases and foundations as well as electrical and mechanical services. The team responded by working closely with the mechanical and electrical designer and structural engineer, to make the necessary design adaptations and ensure the programme remained on schedule.

An interesting and successful project

The success of this project has enabled Logicor to combine the three units into one larger warehouse space for single occupancy. 

Ian Simmons, operations manager for VolkerFitzpatrick, said: “This has been a very interesting and successful project, largely due to the good, open communication with Logicor and the warehouse’s end users. The site team ran the project very well and adopted a good ‘open door’ policy with our sub-contractors, resulting in an open dialogue throughout the project.”

Stephen Vickers, director of property for Logicor, said: “Logicor took back this recently acquired warehouse and saw the opportunity to redevelop the central unit to bring it up to modern operational standards. Working closely with a single customer who wanted to occupy the full building, we undertook the task of designing, tendering and then construction, working across the Logicor virtual consultant team. 

VolkerFitzpatrick demonstrated a real understanding of the scheme and the complexities involved in this building upgrade project. We were pleased with the excellent communication and teamwork demonstrated by all parties and ultimately the project was delivered ahead of schedule, enabling our customer to benefit from the larger warehouse with minimum disruption to their business.”