Newport City Homes - Towers - R&M Williams Ltd

Project Details

Client: JCT Design and Build for Newport City Homes
Value: £4.8M
Duration: 6 Months
Completion: 2018

Newport City Homes – Towers

We were awarded the contract for completing external wall cladding and fire barrier replacement for Hillview, Milton and Greenwood tower blocks in Newport, by our long-time client Newport City Homes.

We replaced the replacement of the 4mm thick Larson ACM fixed cladding panels with a 4mm thick Euroclad Alpolic A2 cladding panel of ‘limited combustibility’. We also upgraded the existing cavity fire barriers to the perimeters of windows, doors, ventilation penetrations, adding horizontal and vertical fire barriers to each floor and wall compartment.

Value engineering

Through meticulous on-site structural inspections, we were able to reutilise a significant proportion of the existing cladding. We employed robust pull-out tests and added fixings that allowed us to retain 70% of existing rails, warranted by the system manufacturer and structural engineer. Across the three towers this netted a circa £450k saving for our client.

Legacy

We were honoured to be visited by the Westminster High Rise Building Safety Review Team, headed by Dame Judith Hackett. We facilitated a site visit and presentation of best practice to the Westminster Team.

Following this visit, our Managing Director, was invited to present at the Senedd to the Devolved Nations’ High Rise Safety committee which included midtrial representatives from all devolved governments: Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. This presentation centred around the contractor’s perspective and management of designers and installation.

Subsequently, we have been involved in the new Welsh Government white paper consultation process on the Implementation of new building regulations. He is also a regular consultee with the Building Safety Committee.

The above process and wider consultation process with Government, BRE, RIBA and Health & Safety executives gained post-Grenfell, has influenced and shaped the R&M design development for off and on-site quality protocols.