Charlies Stores – Welshpool

The below shows the project challenges:

• The original design carried out by the client, and for which planning had been granted, was not compliant with Building Regulations. Portals design team engaged with the Client and our approved inspector to resolve the issues without the need for a new planning application or an increase in costs. This was achieved via altering the office layouts and repositioning stair cases and utilising fire engineering solutions.
• The Client directly appointed a number of their own specialist contractors including sprinklers and racking. Ensuring the requirements of these specialists were incorporated into the base build design required much coordination. Portal ultimately took on the role of managing the works of these specialists on site in parallel with completing the base build works thus minimising the time between completion of Portals contract and the facility going live.
• Integration of the clients M&E requirements into the base build scheme required a significant amount of works – we needed to design structured data cabling including fibre links and wifi access points to integrate into the client’s stock management system. Portals M&E Consultant designed the systems in collaboration with the client’s specialists and Poral priced the changes on an open book basis with agreed OHP mark ups
• Within the office area the client wanted open plan desks abutting perimeter walls. Thus, radiators could not be used and M&E services to desks became difficult (as RAF were not being used). Portals solution was to introduce radiant heat panels within the ceilings and design a desking system with integrated cable management