Construction experts Intelligent FS have won a major £3.5 million cladding contract at Milliners Wharf in Manchester as they lead the way in removing non-compliant insulation across the United Kingdom.
The company – who recently moved into a state-of-the-art office complex in Hale after tripling their workforce in a £1 million upgrade – will tackle the 450 apartments without the need for residents to leave their homes during the estimated 55-week project.
The treatment requires the complete removal of the existing insulation before a full cavity fire barrier installation takes place. As well as cladding remediation, Intelligent FS will provide full cladding and fire design services.
Intelligent FS are unique in employing a boutique cladding team to tackle the UK cladding crisis following the Grenfell Tower tragedy in 2017, with the company willing to actively work with developers to retrospectively fit safe cladding on buildings.
Post-Grenfell, more than 50 high-rise buildings have the same highly-flammable cladding that caused the fire that killed 72 people. Despite a Government target that all dangerous cladding materials should be removed by June 2020, latest figures show they are still not there.
In total, 486 buildings over 18 metres tall were found to contain the aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding identified by the Grenfell Inquiry as the leading cause of the 2017 tragedy.
Meanwhile, work is still to be completed on 111 of these buildings and not even started on 31 more. Additionally, 58 structures still have the non-compliant cladding intact.
But earlier this year, Michael Gove, then Secretary of State for Levelling Up, struck a deal with 45 homebuilders to pay £2 billion to fix the unsafe cladding.
Intelligent FS have collaborated with leading access specialists to design a hybrid solution to accessing the facade of Milliners Wharf for the project due to the location sitting beside a live canal.
Intelligent FS have been given principal contractor status at the site shortly after leading on recent projects for the Ministry of Justice, installing new cladding in both Burnley Combined Court and Dudley Magistrates Court in work valued at a combined £1 million.
With over 60 years experience in the building service industry, Intelligent FS were also praised for their reaction to the Coronavirus-19 pandemic, helping fit out laboratories across the country to swiftly roll out the life-saving vaccine.
After winning the Milliners Wharf contract, Intelligent FS co-founder Rob Williams said: “We are delighted to have been awarded this project on a landmark Manchester building.
“Intelligent FS has worked in close collaboration with the building owners and their consultants to produce a remedial solution that meets stringent client requirements.
“This substantial award reinforces our growing influence in the cladding sector and fully justifies the internal investment programme we have undertaken for the business.”
