Union Yard

The development includes 2,237m2 of flexible retail/commercial floorspace and a makers’ yard, with a new public square and creative space for small and independent businesses. The scheme involved several public realm enhancements, including hard and soft landscaping and associated access, servicing, car parking and cycle parking.

WHAT DID THE CLIENT WANT?

RBC wanted all residential units to be delivered to a high standard and in line with the requirements for NDSS and Homes England funding, with completion in time for the summer/autumn 2024 University term. The development is split into five blocks, all of which fall within the HRB category, so the Council also wanted support to meet its obligations as Client under the Building Safety Act.

HOW DID BAILY GARNER ASSIST?

Due to the size and complexity of the project, regular meetings were conducted to review logs/registers. In addition to this, we hosted fortnightly design team meetings and weekly M&E workshops to ensure full compliance with NDSS and Homes England. We supported the Council in ensuring compliance with the Building Safety Act by coordinating the necessary documentation and submissions to the Building Safety Regulator (BSR), including the Regulation 38 pack and the Gateway 3 application.

In the early stages of the project, we experienced party wall challenges with existing properties, which caused a major disruption to the contract programme, with an overall delay of 21 weeks. Through robust analysis and a commercial agreement, we managed to negotiate a reduced delay of five weeks to bring the programme back in line to deliver the student accommodation ready for the start of the term.

A further challenge was the negotiation of the s278 works, due to the site being located in the town centre of Aldershot. Extensive consultation had to be arranged with a large number of stakeholders, which included the Local Authority, National Highways, residents, bus operators and businesses. Due to the extent of work, a carefully considered traffic management plan was prepared to mitigate the impact on the local community and to ensure all services operated as normal.

We played a critical role in managing the quality of units delivered on site, establishing a benchmark unit early to set the standard. Our collaborative approach involved the use of digital reporting app Field View, for which we issued a licence to the contractor. This allowed them to view any items picked up during our site inspections and easily locate them via a pin drop on the design drawings and supporting photo evidence of the quality concerns.

Using the above approach, we were able to maintain full visibility of all items marked for remediation and track their progress, only closing them out once we had comprehensive evidence of a fix. As a result, the project reached completion in July 2024, with minimal defects identified during snagging.