Client: Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council
Property: Various shops/commercial premises
Project: Repair & Restorations Works
Value: Circa £300,000
Project Overview:
Darwen town centre has one of the best examples of a Victorian shopping centre, with all of the old properties having been retained from the 1800s, with a peculiar street layout and town centre arrangement. This whole shopping centre is a Conservation Area, but all properties are privately owned and many have fallen into disrepair.
Lea Hough Role:
Lea Hough were appointed by the Borough Council to survey properties, identify repair and restoration works. Then we were engaged to project manage restoration works to nine properties.
The works entailed restoring the buildings’ original appearance, to reinstating and replicating shop fronts to match original, installing traditional features such as sliding sash windows, and carrying out full restoration of the external fabrics including re-roofing, replacement of rainwater goods, re-pointing, etc.
Our role involved preparing detailed drawings, obtaining Conservation Area consent, preparing specifications and tender documents, obtaining tender prices from contractors, and generally overseeing and project management throughout from start to completion. We also dealt with all CDM Coordinator aspects and ensured that Building Regulations Approval was obtained.
Project Outcome:
The works were undertaken as part of a rolling programme. It was a challenging project due to the number of individual shop owners and Tenants that we needed to liaise with and deliver schemes for, and meet expectations, but the project was successfully delivered on time and on budget, and to an excellent standard.
