Getting London
schemes built
These are a selection of schemes our founder has built or managed, from 97 homes beside the A406 to a Grade II* listed building in Covent Garden.
City of Westminster.
Refurbishment of a Grade II* listed building, including renovation of a historic ceiling that had been painted over for more than 100 years, under listed building consent and under English Heritage's watch. The first substantial project the business completed. We got planning and took it through to sale; it was bought by the first person who saw it.
Role: Main Contractor and Development Manager.
London Borough of Southwark.
A Grade II listed chapel hall converted into five apartments and a two-storey house, keeping the oak beams, stained glass and vaulted ceilings.
Role: Main Contractor and Development Manager.
City of Westminster.
1 to 3 Duck Lane, a row of office buildings on a Soho back lane turned into nine homes across three buildings, with new basements and two added storeys. Fit-out included a steam room, bespoke kitchens and a basement wine cellar in one house. Prior to start on site we won planning changes at appeal to optimise the scheme for the client. Building ran from 2013 into 2014 with sales completed by November 2015.
Role: Main Contractor and Development Manager.
London Borough of Croydon.
The former Norbury Police Station at 1516 London Road, next to Norbury station: 22 flats, eight in the refurbished police station and fourteen in a new three and four storey building behind it, with a day nursery on the ground floor and seven of the flats sold to a housing association for shared ownership. Built from July 2017; the private flats sold between November 2018 and November 2019.
Role: Main Contractor and Development Manager.
London Borough of Barnet.
97 homes and two commercial units, 3 to 6 storeys, on a narrow, steep strip of about 0.56 hectares immediately north of the A406 North Circular. The design won the Unbuilt Housing category of the 2019 New London Architecture awards and the Building London Planning Award 2020. Covid arrived mid-build, then the Brexit labour market impact. When subcontractors fell away our founder hired bricklayers and scaffolders on direct labour to keep the site moving, and he was on it every day. On 17 August 2020, in the midst of Covid, an HSE inspector visited and served a Prohibition Notice on one structure, the south west bookend. We say this openly, because Health and Safety is a key aspect of the building trade: safety must be paramount, even in periods of turmoil, and we learn from what goes wrong. We reacted extremely quickly and within 24 hours the walkway came out, the ladder was tied, the edge protection went up, and the HSE confirmed that the notice was complied with. Construction completed in 2022 and it is today one of London's most celebrated schemes.
Role: Construction Manager and Development Manager, and Trade Contractor on several of the packages.
London Borough of Lambeth.
36 flats of one, two and three bedrooms in a building of one to four storeys at the rear of the Cooper Building on Clapham Common South Side, with an extended footpath along Maud Chadburn Place. The JCT Design and Build 2016 contract was priced in 2021 and signed in 2022. This was the big, complex job of the three that broke the company: priced before the Brexit labour shortage and post-Covid construction inflation had worked through to costs, and built through to occupation in 2024 and early 2025. Despite the losses it caused the company, it was handed over with Building Control sign-off and the warranties in place, so the developer was able to sell the flats. It is here because clients should know what our founder learnt there.
Role: Design and Build Main Contractor.
London Borough of Barnet.
463 Build to Rent homes in buildings up to six storeys on The Fairway, with public squares, play space and commercial space, 50 per cent affordable by habitable room. We were part of the team that helped achieve planning approval through the GLA call-in. Architect: London Placemaking.
Role: Project and Viability Consultant.
Photographs: Edgewood Mews, Morley von Sternberg; Edgewood Mews (2022), Transport for London; Honor Oak Chapel, Acorn. Images: Stoney Wood Quarter, London Placemaking.