details and schedule, which, when read together, makes things much more straight forward.” The windows themselves are a mix of around 270 Historic sliding sash windows, 10 dormer windows (3 of which are curved in plan), 2 pivot windows, 179 inward opening tilt and turn doorsets (9 of which are curved) and two inward opening doorsets. Those windows at the front of the building had to be single glazed in order to meet the requirements of the Conservation Officer, whilst retaining high performance levels. On site, one of the biggest challenges for the Site Manager, Ian Wright was how to manually handle the windows and doors. Commenting on this, Ian said: “Usually, we would use floor cranes, but this wasn’t possible due to the uneven floors and the steel beams in the ceilings so we had to improvise and find ways to lift them manually.”
In addition to this, arranging delivery and cranes to be available in such tight spaces outside is typical of historic projects like this. Having a single supplier for timber windows and doors proved beneficial for Balfour Beatty in terms of reducing the hassle of managing multiple suppliers, the financial aspects, on-site issues and the design elements. In the past, windows and doors have been bundled into a broader joinery package, but since these joinery companies lack the technical skill to deliver fenestration on projects like this, they would use subcontractors which keeps the people with the expertise away from the design and decision making processes. Tom Wright, MD at George Barnsdale said “The fact that we were able to be involved in the design and planning meetings meant we could spot in advance any potential issues, point them out and come to an agreement with the wider team and architects on how to mitigate them.”
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This is the optimal way for us to work on complex commercial projects like this, the earlier we are involved, the better the outcome.
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A further complexity came with the amount of refurbishment work being done on the stonework by Paye Stone and Restoration which we had to work around, making our own scheduling a bit of a nightmare at times. Ian continues: “Some days we only managed to get five windows in on one floor, missed some out and had to move elsewhere which isn’t the most efficient way to schedule a job, however this is often the nature of working on historic projects like this.”
A further plus for Balfour Beatty was the financial stability of George Barnsdale because contractors can find themselves in a situation where they have to prop up suppliers when finances become troublesome. Our approach to sustainable business planning and finance is often seen as beneficial to customers on lengthy commercial projects such as this one Overall, George Barnsdale’s competence and ability to lead a project like this is very important. From measuring and designing windows for openings that are old and often all over the place, to changes in personnel resulting in potential miscommunication, it is down to the excellent project leadership, experienced design oversight and comprehensive record keeping of the team members that any glitches were overcome. Website: www.georgebarnsdale.co.uk
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