INCA Case Study: Gary Court, Croydon
Gary Court, Croydon
Project Type: Refurbishment
Building Type: High Rise, Residential
Architect: Martin Arnold
System Designer: Wetherby Building Systems Ltd
Installer: Hamilton (Building Contractors) Ltd
System & Finish: Wetherby Building Systems A2 rated EWI system
U-Value After: 0.24W/m²K
Gary Court is a nine-storey, mixed tenure, high-rise building that is home to 150 residential apartments and a mix of commercial units in Croydon.
The residential properties are a mix of leaseholders and social housing, managed by the Hyde Group, who are the freeholders for the building. Hyde applied for funding from the Building Safety Fund when it was confirmed that the original building materials were non-compliant with regulations introduced following the Grenfell Tower fire.
Hyde appointed Equans UK & Ireland and Martin Arnold Ltd who then selected Hamilton to deliver the full facade remediation.
Based on a major arterial route and busy high street above a row of shops, and with residents still living there during the works, Gary Court was never going to be an easy job.
The first and most significant challenge was the absence of the ‘as built’ drawings and information. Without this crucial data, the Hamilton team had to carefully measure all external façade substrates and manually calculate and overlay the systems.
Additional complexities included a short timescale for completion and the site itself was extremely tight, which meant just-in-time deliveries were required throughout.
The teams replaced the rendered EWI with Wetherby Building Systems’ fully accredited A2 rated system before removing the traditional brickwork elements of the piers around the façade and applied Wetherby’s Insulated Clay Brick Slip System directly to the concrete frame.
In addition the zinc cladding was remediated with Valcan’s A1 VitraDual cassette system before work on the terracotta areas and the re-fixing the original tiles finished the project.
All insulation and fire barriers were replaced with ROCKWOOL’s non-combustible products and all the sheathing board across the building is now RCM Y-Wall board.
The job was completed with stunning results and the building has since been inspected and received an A1 rating.
Daniel Mackie, Director at Hamilton, concluded:
“The dedication and expertise demonstrated by our teams throughout this project exemplify the core values of our company.
“Despite facing complex layouts, missing as-built drawings and the additional complications of residents remaining in their homes and businesses continuing operations, our teams delivered excellent results.
“Their tireless efforts, innovative problem-solving, and dedication to quality have not only met but exceeded expectations. The building has since been inspected and received an A1 rating – the highest that can be issued by a fire engineer, which is wonderful news.”
“This means that residents can rest assured the building contains no combustible materials and homeowners can now sell and remortgage their properties.”
residents can rest assured the building contains no combustible materials and homeowners can now sell and remortgage their properties