Knightsbridge Flats - Derby
The Project.
Knightsbridge Flats are located in the Mackworth Estate, a large suburb of Derby based in the city's North-West. Building of the development started in the 1930s, although most accommodation was built in the 1950s and is currently home to over 14,000 residents. Recognised as Derby's oldest post-war council estate, the streets are all named after famous areas of London, except for the main artery of the estate, which is called Prince Charles Avenue. Today, many houses are owner-occupied, although there is still a good amount of social housing, which Derby Homes co-ordinate.
In 2022, Derby City Council and Derby Homes awarded Westville the contract to renovate three blocks of flats, this enabled Derby Homes to carry out a project to renovate three blocks of flats, totalling 42 properties at Knightsbridge, Mackworth Estate. Westville was contracted and tasked to transform the apartments with External Wall Insulation, loft insulation, three coats of render and a pebbledash finish. Alongside, new windows and doors were fitted, making the flats more energy-efficient for tenants.
The Challenges.
Westville started work in Autumn 2022 and concluded in late spring 2023.
Due to the scale of the project and the number of residents involved, gaining access to lots of multiple flats proved tricky at first. The logistics team, supported by proactive communication from the office, managed this with minimal disruption to both residents and the Operations team as they started the work.
Subcontractors Henman Dunn deserve a special mention as they carried out all the plumbing work and were instrumental in the success and smooth operation of the project. Their efficiency and resilience were vital when working around specific access issues that were impossible to avoid due to the setup and layout of the buildings, fully supporting us to ensure the job was done to the required specifications.
Westville transforming a historic estate
Dan Timms, Kevin Hurd and Doru Ghergu
Site install manager, Contracts manager, and EWI installer
Instrumental in producing smooth running and high standards in this project, Dan, Kevin, and Doru were exceptional throughout.
Dan was on site and regularly oversaw the workforce. This ensured that our quality standards were met and the programme ran on schedule.
Kevin effectively supervised the entire project, ensuring seamless collaboration with Dan and excellent communication with the client, Derby Homes.
Doru was increasingly consistent in quality and efficiency, meeting the programme deadlines whilst also being a great help when large deliveries of materials came on site.
The Results
The full scale of works took around six months to complete as we insulated and rendered 42 properties and oversaw the installation of new windows and doors.
A total transformation of the properties can be seen in the photos!
Energy efficiency targets set by Derby City Council were met through the work done on this project. Thanks to the extensive EWI & Loft Insulation work, the EPC ratings of all the properties improved by two levels. This improvement has helped residents save energy, significantly cut their heating costs and helped reduce carbon emissions that would typically reach the atmosphere from the extra power use.
Our studies conclusively show that the households renovated, on average, will unlock an impressive annual saving of around £240 per annum from their energy bills. Across all properties, this amounts to estimated savings of £10,080 annually.
The project will also help decrease CO2 emissions by 17.2 tonnes every year. That’s the equivalent of saving about 9,000kg of coal from being burned in power plants across the country, positively impacting the environment.
Total properties worked on by Westville in 2023.
The amount of money (£) saved on our customers' annual energy bills in 2023.
The amount of CO2 (tonnes) prevented from entering the atmosphere from Westivlle's 2023 projects.
Recent projects by Westville
We’ve had the opportunity to work on some inspiring projects with some fantastic residential clients, businesses and local authorities.
