McLaren will lead the delayed recladding job on the Chalcots Estate in London.
The contractor took the £77.2 million (US$104 million) job to fit new cladding to four of the estate’s five housing blocks, after Camden Council awarded the recladding of the fifth tower, Blashford, to Graham in August 2021. McLaren is set to start installing the new cladding in the summer, working on two towers at once. Work should be complete on the four towers – Bray, Burnham, Dorney and Taplow – by the end of 2023.
Recladding the buildings has been in the works since 2017 when residents were evacuated following the Grenfell Tower fire due to fears over its aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding. The cladding was subsequently removed and Wates started drawing up remediation plans. However, its £100 million (US$135 million) bid to work on all five blocks was rejected in 2020.
The Blashford Tower recladding was then procured under a separate contract worth £22 million (US$29 million). The council said this would allow work to be completed earlier than if it had been included alongside the other towers.
For more on this story, go to Construction News.