Procession House

CLIENT: ISG

A 16-month refurbishment programme is currently underway to upgrade 105,000 sq ft of office space on Procession House, located a stone’s throw away from St Paul’s Cathedral. The building is undergoing a complete renovation, which will include a rooftop terrace and refurbishment works to the facade of the building.

TRAD were successful in securing this project due to their involvement in the fast-paced tender process, and their quick responses to the client with workable and cost-effective solutions.

TRAD’s first package of works was to provide the complex scaffolding structure required to provide material hoisting capability, access and working platforms. This resulted in the entire external face of the building being covered by 550 tonnes of scaffolding. Tube and fitting was the preferred solution for this job due to the element of hard demolition.

TRAD was presented with many logistical challenges on this project due to the busy location of the site. TRAD divisional director Craig Hayes commented, “The building is an island, with heavy traffic running along two sides of the building and pedestrians walking around it 24/7. Therefore, the ground base works up to level two of the building were done out of hours so we could minimise any risks to the public.” Once the scaffold reached level two, TRAD switched to working during the day by using a protection fan – which catches any items that might fall from above while construction works take place.

There were also further time restrictions imposed, as the building straddles City Thameslink station. This meant that work in front of the station entrance could only be conducted when the station was closed. “It was challenging, as there was a large amount of set up for a small amount of work,” says Mr Hayes. For example, the amount of time spent getting traffic and pedestrian marshals in place and setting up safety barriers before work could commence squeezed an already limited schedule.

Another challenge was that once materials were delivered, they could not be stored on site, so TRAD had to plan exactly which materials would be needed on a day-to-day basis. Delivery itself proved another obstacle to overcome, as there were only 18 metres of space to unload on Pilgrim Street, so it was incredibly constrained.

Despite all of these logistical challenges, the project remains on schedule. The second package of TRAD’s work is to provide the scaffolding needed to support internal fit-out works. The project is expected to be completed by the end of January 2020, and scaffolding will start to be dismantled in November 2019.

TRAD Scaffolding recently received a Considerate Contractor Scheme Gold Award from the City of London for consistently exceeding the Code of Good Practice at Procession House. TRAD are extremely proud of this award as it reflects a spirit of pride, an awareness of the needs of the passing public and regard for the surrounding environment.