Beachcroft House, Maida Vale,

This scheme comprised a logistically complex two-stage design and build contract for an 84-bed residential care home and 31 high-spec private flats on behalf Westminster City Council.

Beachcroft House is part of Westminster’s Specialist Housing Strategy for Older People (SHSOP) and will home elderly patients with disabilities and dementia providing them with much needed shared community space, with a library, lounge, cinema room, assisted bathrooms and outside space including an award winning sensory garden.

The project overcame a number of challenges which included physically adjoining the new building to an existing structure whilst demolishing other buildings in order to redevelop the site and create a four- to five-storey block on a constrained construction site. It was surrounded by residential properties and the BBC’s Maida Vale studios none of whom were disrupted when the electrical substation had to be relocated.

We used our Durkan expertise of care home construction projects to make sure the building’s fire safety design was suitable for its vulnerable end users and our detailed design made sure the care home’s appearance blended seamlessly with the private apartment, as well as fully integrating into the local vernacular of Maida Vale’s Conservation Area.

In addition to the positive feedback from Westminster City Council, the Beachcroft project team achieved a Considerate Constructors Scheme Performance Beyond Compliance Certificate.

Important to Durkan is the ability to add Social Value to the communities we build and through the Westminster City Council’s employment brokerage scheme, Durkan were able to provide for local people with a range of disabilities many opportunities to gain valuable work experience on site including data entry, document control and document shredding.