Vale Industrial Units // Conwy

The full extent of this project was quite complex in that we were handed a site that had suffered a huge industrial fire. The existing building was an industrial laundry that had been situated there since 1935. Nearly 40 Firefighters were involved in tackling the blaze, with five fire appliances trying to get to grips with the fire, needless to say the building was beyond salvage.

The existing building was a large industrial laundry, which had operated at the site since 1935. A ferocious blaze broke out leaving the building destroyed. To give some idea nearly forty firefighters were involved in tackling the blaze with five fire appliances from Llandudno, Conwy, Colwyn Bay and Abergele sent to the scene, together with an aerial ladder platform and incident command unit from Rhyl.

We were involved with the initial assessment of damage and securing the site to ensure that the public were safe from debris. We liaised with the buildings insurers and they appointed a loss adjuster to act on their behalf in assessing the claim. At this point we appointed the necessary consultants to act on our client’s behalf.

The first step was to assess what percentage of the building was salvageable (with the insurance company wanting to salvage as much as possible to reduce the claim). With the extent of the damage it was clear to us that nothing was salvageable and the building needed to be demolished and re-built. We appointed a demolition contractor to clear the site and remove all residual building contamination.

An interesting concept we dealt with on this project was one of “betterment”. Insurance companies will only pay to have “like replaced with like” but building regulations and planning is vastly different from 1935 and therefore like could not be replaced with like, as the building wouldn’t comply. We advocated on our client’s behalf to the insurance company to ensure that they were fully aware what could and could not be done under current regulations and planning laws. This was an arduous process but one we were fully committed to.

Once the site was cleared we submitted a full planning application to Conwy Council for three new industrial units (originally it was a single unit). The new use was for B1 Business, light industrial which was suitable for a residential area.

The new buildings were built from Kingspan trimmer panels, which are insulated architectural wall panels. It was the first time we had used these panels and they allowed us to visually come up with something contemporary and unique (since they can be installed both vertically and horizontally and available in a wide range of colours for maximum visual impact). The client opted for cool neutral colours of grey and blue with the grey representing the industrial nature of the building and the blue reflecting the coastal location.

The client was beyond thrilled with the outcome and the new building.

To add to the above, negotiating the claim is complex and there are various options open to you aside of reinstatement of the existing building you have lost. You can accept a cash settlement, or you can even build a new building on another site. All these have good and bad points about them, and we advised the clients to appoint a loss assessor to act on their behalf. In this instance we used Harris Balcombe to act for the client because the communication from the insurance company was not satisfactory. I cannot recommend them highly enough, they did a fantastic job of getting the insurance company to accept liability, provide interim payments and move things at a much quicker pace.

We initially appointed a demolition contractor to clear the site and remove all residual building contamination. Once the site was cleared, we submitted a full planning application to Conwy Council for three new industrial units (originally it was a single unit). The new use was for B1 Business, light industrial. This was suitable for a residential area.

The procurement method used for this project was a “Design & Build” Contract.

To add to the above, negotiating the claim is complex and there are various options open to you aside of reinstatement of the existing building you have lost. You can accept a cash settlement, or you can even build a new building on another site. All these have good and bad points about them, and we advised the clients to appoint a loss assessor to act on their behalf. In this instance we used Harris Balcombe to act for the client because the communication from the insurance company was not satisfactory. I cannot recommend them highly enough, they did a fantastic job of getting the insurance company to accept liability, provide interim payments and move things at a much quicker pace.