Sana’s Site Tour
28th July 2021
63. St. James’s street
Last month I took a tour around some of ITC’s London sites, catching up with site teams. The first stop was our recently completed office extension and fit-out at 63 St James’s Street. I was impressed with the modern and bright fit-out across 7 floors of the building, as well as being blown away by the spectacular views across London.
I caught up with two of the Site Managers on this 22,000 square feet project, both called Martin working on the project – albeit different spelling!
Manager Martyn Lawrence has been working with ITC for 2 years, we discussed his experience on the project at 63 St. James’s Street and said: “I’ve loved working on this project and the client team is pleasant. This is my first time working in Mark Hemsley’s team and I’ve enjoyed it. Working alongside experienced Site Manager Martin Coles has also been a great experience”.
This has been a challenging project for the team, Martin Coles tells me about a late instruction given by the London Fire Brigade for the spiral staircase that connects the 6th and 7th floors together. This meant having to cut a hole through concrete, but the team managed to carry this out safely and in time for completion.
Managing the site during the pandemic was also challenging for the team, ensuring that social distancing guidelines were maintained when there was up to 70 people on site.
The project is now complete, take a virtual tour to see this modern office space.
Philbeach Gardens
Formerly known as the Beaver Hotel, I was curious about my visit to this site! Philbeach Gardens was being stripped out to eventually become 21 apartments. I met with the Project Manager John Beard, he is enjoying his first project with ITC and is impressed with the professionalism of the team.
I was impressed by some of the plant on site, particularly a conveyor belt that takes out rubble from the basement all the way outside of the building where the waste was put into wheelbarrows! I am looking forward to seeing the transformation of this building.
Morgan Motor Company
Lastly, I visited the prestigious Morgan Works in Kensington. Stuart Barrett, our Site Manager explained that this project is highly focused on quality as Morgan specialises in hand built British sports cars – a unique blend of charisma, craftsmanship and performance.
Demolition works had commenced, with the sandblasting machines in full use on the original stock walls so they could be exposed as per the client’s brief.
I spotted some impressive artwork created by Ian Cook, the large Morgan car, was painted using radio-controlled cars, car tyres and toy car wheels – created live at Morgan Motor Company! Stuart also went on to explain that the site in Ashtwood Mews, was formerly used as stables with servant quarters above – unusual and interesting things to hear about indeed!
It was really interesting visiting ITC’s various sites and witnessing works being carried out at different stages of each project. I look forward to going back to seeing more finished spaces by ITC in the near future!