Back in October 2015 we were contacted by a potential clients quantity surveyor who was looking for a construction company to tender for a new modern, contemporary build based in Wednesfield. Wednesfield is an historic village and residential area within the city of Wolverhampton, West Midlands. Normally, project teams looking to build a new development would look at local construction companies for their project. In this case we had court the eye of the quantity surveyor, first by a recommendation, but then he looked at our website and liked what he saw. He then passed our details on to the very talented project manager and interior designer Charlotte Conway of Charlotte Conway Design, Charlotte was tasked by her clients to run the entire project and logistics for this new modern build.
After looking extensively at our website Charlotte felt that we had the potential to match what she was looking for. Charlotte has exacting standards and had briefed the QS that she was looking for a company that had a great pedigree in building contemporary designed buildings efficiently, to a high specification and standards. She was looking for someone with an eye for detail and a company that had a modern, forward thinking attitude that she could rely on. One of the most important decisions for Charlotte was entrusting the client, her and the architects vision to a construction company that could deliver on all fronts to a high standards.
That month Julian Williams (one of the company directors) and Stephen Dick (head of our estimating department) met up with Charlotte for a site visit and inspection before the tender process started. Charlotte mentioned that she liked the projects that we had been involved with previously, we presumed this is why she wanted to get us involved at this stage.
Charlotte then set up a meeting for herself and the quantity surveyor to meet us on some of our previous projects sites, this was to look over and evaluate the quality of work and meet past clients. We took her to our Aylestone Gate development of four modern detached houses designed and built by ourselves. Then we moved on to Hereford city centre to meet a client that we had worked for converting his retail establishment, refurbishing and extending it with an added residential dwelling for the site.
As things progressed we started working very closely on the tender quotation with Ben Parsons of Ben Parsons Design, an award winning RIBA chartered architect’s practice based in Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands.
Ben is a very accomplished architect and has designed some wonderful contemporary buildings, and this new building is no exception. Ben's practice has a strong reputation for producing high quality buildings through rigorous design. He is also committed to using materials and methods of construction that embody ecological and environmental best practice.
After the tender process had been finalised, the project team headed by Charlotte came to the decision in February 2016. This is the point where we were contacted and awarded the contract. It is a very exciting project for us, and it is one of our largest one off builds to date. We feel very proud to have fought off strong competition and more local construction companies to win the project. We feel it is our commitment to having a fresh outlook to the building industry, coupled with the desire to create buildings of the highest standards and detail that swung the pendulum in our favour. Talking to Charlotte about why she had chosen us over a more local construction company she said "I was very impressed with the quality of your work and the previous projects you had worked on. It looked like you had a wide experiance in unusual bespoke builds, and your finishes on your projects looked of a very high standard. This project was always about getting the right contractor that we felt could create our clients dream, local companies and budgets always play a part in the decision, but for this we needed someone that we felt would deliver on all the details we need for this project. These are a few of the reasons why you became top of our list"
The quantity surveyor added "Looking at the many well detailed images on your website gave me an indication of your site management. I could see the projects in stages, and the developments always looked ordered and tidy. This is something that always gives me confidence that I'm dealing with a company that have high standards"
We set up on site on 7th of March 2016, and broke ground on the 28th of March. The journey starts on the 18 month long build!
Above: Plans and picture of us breaking ground
This blog will chronicle the build of this prestigious project from foundations to final fit. We are hoping to bring you time-lapse footage, images and the narrative of the whole build. Why don't you book mark the page and pop back for an update or subscribe to the blog.