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RBKC hunts for firm to oversee £58m Grenfell estate upgrade

The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) is seeking consultants to oversee a £58m overhaul of the estate that includes the remnants of Grenfell Tower.

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A Lancaster West Estate block, with Grenfell Tower in the background (picture: Jon Enoch)
A Lancaster West Estate block, with Grenfell Tower in the background (picture: Jon Enoch)
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.@RBKC on hunt for consultants to oversee £58m upgrade of Grenfell estate #ukhousing

Council consulting with residents over upgrades at Lancaster West Estate #ukhousing

The west London council wants “highly experienced multi-disciplinary consultants” to carry out “comprehensive feasibility studies” and to “design, specify and deliver innovative refurbishment solutions” on the Lancaster West Estate, according to a notice published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) this week.

The North Kensington estate, which opened in the mid-1970s, contains 795 homes and is the borough’s largest housing estate.

It is home to Grenfell Tower, where 72 people were killed in the UK’s worst post-war residential fire in June 2017.

Last month, RBKC admitted major building control failures in the build-up to the fire.


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The work, according to a council-produced residents’ newsletter published in December, will include replacement heating and hot water systems, new video door entry systems, double-glazed windows, and “state-of-the-art” kitchens and bathrooms.

The works will be “led and co-designed by residents”, the newsletter said.

In an in-depth investigation last summer, Inside Housing revealed that many residents of the Lancaster West Estate had moved out because of post-traumatic stress disorder associated with seeing the tower.

Architects put forward suggestions for the future of the Lancaster West Estate in April 2018 while the council promised an extra £27.9m for the project last July, including £9.9m provided by the government.

At the time, Kim Taylor-Smith, deputy leader of RBKC, described the refurbishment of the estate as a “huge priority” for the council.

The value of the design contract, which will run for four years and eight months, is not disclosed in the OJEU listing.

In the newsletter, the council said it is looking to start the design phase in “early 2020”, but the deadline for applications for consultants is 18 March. Works are expected to start early next year, according to the newsletter.

Plans for the estate were unveiled in April 2018.

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