Rydon secures £10m Kensington and Chelsea tower refurbishment

Rydon has secured a contract with Kensington & Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO) to upgrade the 24-storey 1970s Grenfell Tower, as part of a £57m neighbourhood regeneration.

Located in the Lancaster West Estate in North Kensington, the £10m project will deliver a number of improvements, with residents still in occupation, to the building’s energy efficiency, its community facilities and will also create additional new homes using vacant space.

Rain screen cladding, curtain wall façade and replacement windows will be fitted to the exterior of the building, with a completely new heating system installed to the interior. Rydon will work towards achieving a BREEAM rating and will also work with KCTMO to secure eco funding.

Dale Youth Boxing Club, which has helped to produce some of the UK’s best boxing talent, including Olympic Gold medallist James Degale and IBF/WBA contender George Groves, is based within Grenfell Tower. The work will provide the club much larger and improved training facilities, which will be around three times the size of its current premises.

Lower floor space will be also remodelled to incorporate seven new homes as well as a nursery, which is being relocated from another part of the building.

Fay Edwards, Chair of KCTMO, which manages the tower on behalf of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, said: “I’m delighted that we have been successful in appointing Rydon. I sat on the tender panel and was involved in the interview process. Residents of the tower have long had to put up with a sub-standard heating system and poor insulation and this has affected the quality of their lives. The new heating system will mean they can adjust the heating to their own needs for the first time.”

Simon Lawrence, Project Manager for Rydon Maintenance, said: “We look forward to starting work regenerating Grenfell Tower and delivering improved, fuel-efficient homes for residents. With any major project there may be some disruption, but our experienced team will aim to keep this to a minimum by working closely with the local community.”

An important requirement for KCTMO was for a contractor that could demonstrate outstanding resident engagement in similar tower block refurbishments.

Rydon has delivered a number of refurbishments to residential tower blocks, whilst residents have remained in occupation. Most recently it has modernised a 22-storey tower and numerous other multi-storey housing, sheltered accommodation and community buildings across a large estate in Lambeth as well as a similar refurbishment to another 23-storey tower block in Newham.

Image sourced from time-lapse webcam of Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Click here to see more images

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