Project overview
Project: 250 City Road, London
Sector: Apartments for sale and shared ownership
Client: Berkeley Homes
Main Contractor: Berkeley Homes
Architect: Foster and Partners / Broadway Malyan
Pod Type: Steel-framed
Number of pods: 221 bath and shower pods – two designs for mixed tenure
Contract value: £3.2m
The project
Designed by Foster and Partners with Broadway Malyan, 250 City Road in London is a landmark development from Berkeley Homes set in 1.9 acres of landscaped green spaces and courtyards.
Siena House is the third phase of the City Road development, which will provide one, two, and three-bedroom apartments for private sale, and homes for shared ownership managed by Peabody Trust.
Taking offsite manufacturing to a new level
Offsite Solutions has manufactured a total of 221 luxury bath and shower pods in two different bathroom designs for Siena House, in a £3.2m contract.
This is our second project for Berkeley Homes, and the most luxurious and highest specification pods Offsite Solutions has manufactured to date, taking offsite manufacturing to a completely new level.
There was extensive early collaboration on the design of the pods between Berkeley Homes, Broadway Malyan, Offsite Solutions, and the manufacturer of the bespoke cabinetry.
Opulent and elegant finishes
The interior design for the bathrooms and ensuite shower rooms for the private sale apartments is opulent and elegant.
Fittings are finished in striking brushed gold – wall-mounted taps to the hand basin and bath, heated towel rail, and overhead and hand-held showers. This contrasts with white sanitaryware, a white steel bath, large format grey stone porcelain tiles with colour-matched grout, and a grey stone vanity top.
High end bespoke vanity cabinets with fluted doors in dark blue and contrasting gold trims are designed to match the fitted furniture in the bedrooms.
Seven-week delivery programme
The delivery of the pods to site was completed in just seven weeks to meet Berkeley Homes’ scheduling for installation. This involved careful logistical planning with 44 separate batches of pods required on site and up to 10 deliveries in a single week.
The luxury pods have a frameless glass shower enclosure, floor standing dual flush toilet, three-door mirrored cabinets, underfloor heating, and integrated LED lighting – creating a luxurious ambience for contemporary living.
A specially designed, 1.2m high niche feature is recessed into the wall in the shower and above the bath. This was fully tiled and fitted with glass shelves.
Innovative underfloor heating solution for even heat distribution
An effective and innovative underfloor heating solution was used for City Road, with a sub-floor with grooves to hold the pipework and an aluminium diffuser plate for even heat distribution. This was all integral to the pod and fully fitted in the factory.
Second pod range for shared ownership homes
Offsite Solutions’ production processes were sufficiently flexible to accommodate the manufacture of a second range of bathroom pods for this mixed tenure project, to meet the requirements of the shared ownership homes, which were specified by Peabody Trust.
This gave Berkeley Homes all the speed, quality, and procurement benefits of offsite construction from a single manufacturer.
The bathroom pods for the shared ownership homes were fully tiled in limestone-coloured large-format tiles to reduce maintenance and the need for repainting.
Each bathroom was pre-installed with a bath and overhead shower on a sliding wall-mounted rail, a semi-recessed hand basin, a free-standing back-to-wall toilet, a tiled vanity top, a heated towel rail, and underfloor heating. A large mirror above the hand basin was inset into the tiles for a flush, high-quality finish.
The customer perspective
“Bathrooms are one of the most challenging elements to build on a major residential scheme, with so many different trades and subcontractors to procure, co-ordinate, and benchmark, which takes a lot of management time. Accurate tolerances and high-quality finishes are also vitally important to achieving the required standard – and these are easier to attain in a manufacturing environment.”
“Specifying bathroom pods simplifies the process of internal fit-out and reduces the duration of second fix. There is a huge saving in management time by removing the need to coordinate different trades on site. Offsite manufacturing is just a more efficient way of working, and we estimate it was at least 20 per cent faster on this project than in-situ construction.”
“Offsite Solutions has performed well at every stage. Their team was responsive with excellent communications and their logistics were outstanding, delivering this project ahead of programme, despite unavoidable changes to the delivery schedule caused by bad weather.”
“The quality of their pods is very good – and having worked with Berkeley Homes previously, they understand the high standards we work to. They showed exceptional knowledge of compliance, specifying pipework and fittings which meet both NHBC standards and facilitate connection on site. Having pods manufactured in the UK also makes it easier to visit the factory and resolve any design issues at an early stage.”
– Aurimas Vaitkus, Site Manager, Berkeley Homes
South Quay Plaza, London Docklands
The contract at City Road follows Offsite Solutions’ successful delivery of an £8m project for Berkeley Homes for the offsite manufacture of more than 900 high specification bathroom pods for a 68-storey tower at South Quay Plaza in London Docklands.
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