Charing Cross Police Station

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Charing Cross Police Station

London

Project Details

Client

The Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime

Contractor

Morgan Sindall

Value

£24.36m

Contract Period

75 weeks

Project Summary

Complete refurbishment of 120,000 sq-ft Police station, in 3 phases whilst in occupation. Key to the project was to maintain all services whilst the custody suites and office areas remain occupied. Refurbishment including all new mechanical and electrical installations, new raised floors, IT, security, lifts, raised floors, ceiling, joinery, toilets together with renovation of roof, windows, doors, repair and replacement of render and external redecoration. New air-conditioning plant was installed at the ground floor with the creation of a plant enclosure in the central courtyard as a solution because we were not allowed to use cranes to lift plant.

I rate Overbury over all other contractors I’ve worked with.  Your biggest strength is you, you just get things done.  There are no issued and nothing was ever too much trouble.  Your team are really approachable.

What a pleasure it has been to work with John Dryden and his team over the last year as he has overseen the transformation of Charing Cross Police Station into a fantastic building that is a fit HQ for frontline policing in central and west London.

Project Competencies

Fair

Fair Payment Charter

Sustainable

Sustainable Development Charter

  • 96% waste diverted from landfill

Safe

Health & Safety Charter

Legacy

Legacy Charter

  • 22 trainees and apprentices
  • 1604 training weeks
  • Over £1,000 raised towards the Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity

Aftercare

Handover & Aftercare Contractor Promise

Community Engagement

Whilst on site, the project team were involved in a bake off raising over £1,000 towards the Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity.

Key Challenges

Working in a live police station with the busiest custody in Europe with 2 armouries that Police need to have constant daily access to allow them to load ammunition and guns to guard prominent buildings in the capital.  We had to coordinate with vans with up to 80 prisoners a week being unloaded and loaded in into the courtyard being delivered to the custody suite, whilst keeping the area safe secure for all.

To manage the security levels and keep a fast programme of works, there was a high level of communication and awareness of the police requirements. There was a daily, sometimes hourly, dialog to understand each other’s needs; we had to listen and be flexible and sensitive to the requirements of the Police, sometimes changing the programme to suit operational needs.

We divided the building into sections where the Overbury workforce were not allowed so the Police could carry on policing unhindered.

Working in central London with close proximity to many cafes bars restaurants with no available parking for visitors’ and operatives’ cars, and no unloading area for deliveries.

To manage the deliveries, we needed a phone notification from drivers of delivery lorries whose arrival was imminent, this was taken by our logistics team who either took in the delivery or alerted the subcontractor, so an efficient unload was carried out and materials stacked away promptly to point of work.

We let all the surrounding businesses know who we were with programmes and contact names and mobiles numbers.

There was a high level complaint to the Police and Council regarding construction work causing noise and dust affecting their business, this was caused by another contractor who was working nearby. We met the manager of the restaurant and developed a good relationship with her and helped them continue their business once more with advice and meetings.

We needed an area for site office set up and access onto site.  We didn’t have an area available inside Charing Cross for site offices and we couldn’t put cabins on the pavement or roof.  Westminster Council didn’t allow cabins outside a construction zone so special permission was sought to another solution.

We formed a scaffold all the way around the building with a gantry for cabins which held the site offices, canteen, toilets, meeting rooms, subcontractor office, and changing rooms. We built a security point so we could check all our workforce in and out. The entrance to the workplace was through windows in our secured areas.

Project Takeaways

Our Success

  • We built relationships with the Police by building trust with officers, maintaining high security levels, developing flexible programmes and firming budgets with quick costs. This has allowed us to tender more work with the Police.
  • £1.66m additional works not originally part of the scheme for custody suits were incorporated into the existing programme.

Our Learnings

  • Getting staff security cleared in time: we had to work with some staff and operatives waiting for their clearance which can take up to 9 months.  We managed this by giving the non-cleared staff red lanyards and the cleared staff blue lanyards.  The red lanyard operatives were not allowed into the police station without an escorted blue lanyard member of staff.  The Police understood this and was successful.

Value Added

  • Early engagement of supply chain and involvement in design development enabled the project to be completed 4 weeks early.
  • Early involvement of supply chain in cost advice ensure the project was procured under budget.
  • Changed sequencing reduced programme.

KPI’s & Statistics

ContractGateway 2 PlanningGateway 3 Contract AgreementVariationGateway 4 HandoverVariation
Cost£23,519,050£22,708,452-£811,000£24,372,709£1,664,338
Time80 weeks72 weeks-8 weeks68 weeks-4 weeks
  • SMEs: 90%
  • Waste diverted from landfill: 96%

Contact: Alan Smedley, Framework Manager
Email: alan.smedley@morgansindall.com

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