Harrods

One of the largest and most famous department stores in Europe, this high-end department store in central London occupies a 5-acre site with 330 departments covering 1.1 million sq. ft. (100,000 sq. m.) of retail space.

Decontaminate commenced work within this iconic London landmark in 2018, having attended the site and reviewed the client’s requirements for the removal of asbestos-contaminated debris within the subfloor of an area of the building undergoing a major refurbishment programme.

In works procured through the client’s shopfitting contractor (TC&D), asbestos was removed under fully controlled conditions, with our asbestos removal activities closely monitored by Franks Portlock Ltd, the client’s own asbestos consultant. Since the successful completion of these works we have bid — and secured — further projects as part of the client’s continuing initiative to safely manage and remove asbestos-containing materials.

Such further works have similarly been undertaken through shopfitting contractors including Clements Retail, Jaysam Contractors, and Henry Riley, as well as directly on behalf of the client.

Programme management was of critical importance.  As with any retail facility, footfall is a fundamental benchmark to measure the success of the brand, so it was essential that works were commenced and completed on time. To ensure programme compliance, extensive pre-construction engagement took place with all associated parties to develop a project delivery plan that guaranteed accurate and effective delivery the first time — every time.

Removal of waste was another key consideration. Our works generated large quantities of hazardous waste, which was wrapped/bagged in accordance with Environment Agency regulations. Storage space was at a premium, and so it was of key importance that such arisings were promptly removed from the site, so as not to affect the activities of others.

To facilitate this, we instigated out-of-hours waste runs to move the arisings from the works area to a wait-and-load skip positioned adjacent to the loading bay, so as not to obstruct the client’s ability to receive deliveries.