£5,500,000 secured
£37,000 – £150,000 Savings per lessee
Works about to commence and will take 18 months due to size and complexity of the project
Building will be rated A1 on completion
This is possibly one of the most complicated buildings with multiple type of external wall system which are combustible, as well as timber decking to the balconies and a commercial unit occupied by a charity on the ground floor.
The site is very tight and there is nowhere for site cabins to be placed so an alternative location close by has had to be secured which involved extensive further negotiations with the land owner.
The building has had to have a waking watch and to mitigate the costs of this an extensive fire alarm system was installed.
As with al applications lessees who rent their properties need to complete a State Aid declaration. In this building there are additional complication with the charity.
The commercial unit is occupied by a Charity and under State Aid rules it has to pay a contribution towards the cost of remediation which in this case would have been very substantial.
As a registered charity however there are exemptions. These discussions were all culminating in the lead up to Brexit and beyond.
The UK prior to Brexit had to abide by European laws on State Aid. Post Brexit these laws changed.
Highly complex and detailed discussion involving the Charity Trustees, Landlords, Solicitors, Ourselves, the GLA and BSF took place over a protracted period.
A complex solution was found to enable the costs that would have been borne by the Charity to be funded by the Government as part of the remediation. The charity would have had to be disbanded if this solution hadn’t been found.
The building itself has extensive ACM cladding, combustible EPS insulation, linnet glazing, curtain walling and balconies with timber decking.
The application for funding started over 3 years ago when the ACM remediation fund was announced and has involved hundreds of man hours with numerous different people to prepare a detailed specification, tender the contract, submit the application and undertake ongoing discussions with the Case Officer.
As there as some many complication with this building the Case Officer and Cushman Wakefield (cost consultants acting for the Government) had to pay extra attention to the details of the application.
Funding was awarded but not for 100% of the cost as the GLA said they would not cover the replacement of the linnet glazing.
The appeal process was invoked.
The team were able to show that the linnet glazing was an integral part of the combustible cladding and had to be replaced.
The appeal was successful and we have been awarded in excess of £5m Grant Funding.
The project is likely to take nearly 2 years to complete but at the end the building will be awarded an A1 rating and lessees who have been unable to move or refinance their flats for so long will finally be able to do so.