The Gate is a 21-storey apart hotel in East London, consisting of 178 serviced apartments, operated by Portland Brown.
Located on Commercial Road, a red-route and major arterial road into London, the site has a two-storey basement that covers the entire site footprint.
To successfully deliver the 21-storey building, our project team had to devise an ingenious solution that allowed the traditional masonry facade to be built without an external scaffold.
An innovative climbing shroud is being used for just the second time in the UK to provide external facade access to install windows and brickwork up to the 21st storey. As the shroud is lifted it reveals a completed envelope, with fit-out ready to start in the apartments behind.
Using the shroud left little room for error, as each envelope trade must be completed before the shroud is lifted. To mitigate against supply chain failure we pre-purchased the facade materials, storing them in their own off-site facilities ready for just-in-time delivery to the site.
Ardmore’s problem-solving approach has yielded significant programme benefits by removing the requirement to strike scaffolding once the envelope has finished, a process that can take up to 21 weeks.
