One Elmfield Park

When property investment company CLS Holdings plc needed a team to manage the total refurbishment of a five-storey, 1980s office block in Bromley it commissioned PBC as it knew the company had the expertise – through its Project Management team and SKA rating assessor Simon Garrard – to ensure the project would be completed to a CAT A finish and a SKA Gold standard.

Achieving SKA Gold sustainability accreditation for a refurbishment project takes total commitment from the entire project design and delivery team. The process requires transparency at every level, so receiving the Gold standard means that rigorous sustainability challenges and targets have been met.

The Elmfield Park office in Bromley had been occupied by the same tenant for many years, so required a complete refurbishment to upgrade it externally and internally. The brief to PBC included the stipulation that SKA Gold sustainability standards and maximum lettable internal area and floor to ceiling heights needed to be achieved, even though a new ceiling grid and raised access floors would create significant issues.

Working with the design team and main contractor Overbury to meet the quality and sustainability standards required, PBC ensured that the correct materials and practices were specified and used throughout the project. In addition, to meet the space and height requirements stipulated by the client, PBC worked with the design team to provide a workable solution by the use of perimeter-mounted heating and cooling units to supply all of the internal office areas, whilst still offering maximum layout flexibility to future tenants.

Externally, a new entrance canopy and cycle storage area were added and the existing car park was extended and resurfaced. Internally, in addition to the office floorplates and new raised access floors, common areas were comprehensively refurbished, with the WC facilities being remodelled and refurbished with completely new layouts to enable disabled and shower facilities to be provided on every floor.

To allow flexibility for different tenants to take individual floors, if required, a new heating, ventilation and air conditioning system with floor-by-floor metering and controls was installed. Due to the efficiency of the new HVAC systems installed, only two of the building’s existing four boilers were required to be retained. Therefore; the other two were not disposed of but were put to good use in another CLS office refurbishment project, which was also being managed concurrently by PBC.

Now successfully completed, the PBC team is delighted that the Bromley project has achieved the SKA Gold accreditation, demonstrating how both sustainability and flexibility can be successfully incorporated into commercial refurbishment projects.