Praised by the Scheme for its innovative and exceptional practice – Redrow Homes London’s Lyon Square project

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Lyon Square is Redrow Homes London’s distinctive collection of new one, two and three bedroomed luxury apartments in Harrow, north-west London.

Situated between Lyon Road and St John’s Road, the site is close to Harrow town centre and surrounded by retail and commercial developments, as well as being served by good public transport links. The work comprised the demolition of an existing office block to facilitate the construction of RC (Reinforced Concrete) frames containing 310 apartments, 60 of which have been earmarked for social housing.

Innovation

The site team was praised for its innovative multi-purpose illuminated signage board which not only promoted the credentials of the company but was also used as a selling point for the dwellings, while portraying the industry in an extremely positive light.

The site team was tasked with creating a signboard which the sales departments of speculative developers would readily add to wrapped hoardings, as something that would enhance sales literature, while improving the image of the industry.

Detailing the project itself, Tom said:

“The work comprises of eight blocks involving pre-construction, construction and post-construction phases. The total duration of this project is three and a half years and aims to finish in early 2019. The concrete frames are complete with internal fit-out and external cladding on two blocks at an advanced stage, with the other blocks following in sequence.

“The construction phases are further divided into foundation substructure and super structure. There are currently 22 subcontractors overlooking the frame structure, scaffolding and other various trades.

Green parking provision

The project includes providing 123 car parking spaces and 13 disabled bays, while one in five spaces is equipped with electrical charging points within the basement car park.

Describing the electric car parking provisions, Tom said:

“This is part of a green travel plan which has been implemented on this development, as well as a further range of on-site amenities including a courtyard, concierge service and cycle store. There are already plans in place for a residents’ gym.”

Rising to the Challenges

Tom outlines some of the main challenges encountered on the Lyon Square project:

• It is challenging to include the community, keep them informed and be considerate to the neighbours. As a result, we have developed the sign board and newsletter as a means of communication.
• Dust is one of the inevitable factors and is a challenge to overcome; we have placed wheel-washers and covers to waste leaving the site. In the past when we received complaints regarding dust on vehicles, we washed all the affected cars in the local proximity.
• Noise is another prominent challenge and to overcome this we have restricted the working hours from 8am to 6pm, avoiding working on weekends as far as applicable. Where necessary, we have always limited our weekend site working hours from 8am to 12.30pm.
• Within the housing industry there is no consistency from site to site; our workforce came from another site where the awareness of CCS was low, so to meet this challenge we carry out various toolbox talks, weekly safety meetings, ‘fruity Fridays’ and a monthly ‘green card winner’ – for creating awareness about the Scheme.