Camden Council in London is seeking contractors to undertake recladding works on Blashford Tower – one of the blocks within the Chalcots estate – following the departure last year of Wates, which had been on site for the works under a “letter of intent”.
The Council decided to re-tender the works in May last year, having previously been in negotiations with Wates to replace the cladding, windows and curtain walls at the estate. Wates had been undertaking preparation works since January 2019.
Wates’ involvement came after the estate was evacuated temporarily following the Grenfell Tower disaster, amid fears that the blocks were clad with dangerous ACM cladding.
In 2019, it emerged that Camden Council has made a £130m claim against the contractors involved in the refurbishment of the estate to recover costs from Partners for Improvement in Camden (PFIC) and its principal subcontractors – Rydon Construction, Rydon Maintenance, Faithful + Gould and United Living South. PFIC is in liquidation.
Now the Council is seeking a new contractor to reclad Blashford Tower, together with associated works to the envelope of the building, including full window replacement, renewal of the flat roof, installation of a building maintenance unit, cladding to the stair core of the building, and replacement of brickwork to the underground level.
The tower was built in the 1960s before its renovation by PFIC in 2007-09. The cladding system installed by PFIC has already been removed.
The value of the new contract is estimated to be £22m, with Camden envisaging a total of six candidates for the work. The deadline for requests to participate is 11 March, with invitations to tender expected to be sent out to candidates by 13 April.
