The Project

Number 163 High Street Kensington is a prime residential and retail property located in one of the Capital’s prime locations. Close to the prestigious High Street Kensington shopping centre, with its high-end boutiques, the property boasts a fantastic location for both residents and businesses wanting to be close to the West End and Knightsbridge.

The Scope

PBC was appointed to provide Project Management and Employer’s Agent services for the redevelopment of the site, which originally comprised only a retail unit on the ground floor and two flats on the first and second floors being accessed via a separate entrance of the adjacent mews.   At the start of the project, PBC’s Building Consultancy Team also acted on behalf of the building owner to agree Party Wall Agreements with adjoining tenants, commercial landlords, freeholders and leaseholders.

The ‘cut & carve’ redevelopment project involved the total demolition of the rear of the building with façade retention. With the addition of a further storey, this has enabled the construction of a three-bedroom mews house, two two-bedroom and two one-bedroom apartments , along with a new two bedroom penthouse apartment and a new cycle store in the basement.   The retail unit was also stripped back to shell and core, ready for fit-out by a new tenant.

Site restrictions meant the team had to contend with a number of challenges. The building’s façade was listed and the site was extremely tight, bounded on three sides by buildings and to the front by the  busy High Street Kensington.  Materials storage had to be carefully planned, so as not to impede the build, and closure of the busy road to allow craning of materials into the mews had to be coordinated with the local authority, who were also installing superfast broadband cabling at the same time.  A temporary cycleway that had been created in the road in front of the building also made the delivery of materials to the site more complicated.

As the new mews house required excavating deeper the existing basement to allow a full-height lower ground floor level , with the underpinning of surrounding the adjoining buildings  requiring  careful sequencing so as to prevent damage.  Due to the site fronting the High Street , the scaffolding and hoardings also had to be designed and agreed in advance by the local authority.

Despite many challenges, including the Covid-19 pandemic, the project is now finished, and the newly created apartments and mews house, which have been fitted-out to the very highest quality, are attracting a great deal of interest.