About the Project

HMRC Regional Centre, Birmingham

An ultra-modern build, this 15-storey tower needed all the long-honed construction guile of Will Chambers to achieve fit-out perfection.  

All materials and equipment for the 240,000sqft fit-out project had to come in through a single opening in the basement with shared access to an adjacent property. No vehicles bigger than a cargo van could get through. 

Will solved the logistics headache by setting up consolidation warehouses off site. They took bulk deliveries of larger items, which were then split up into smaller loads for prebooked delivery to site.  

Basement space was limited, so he had site deliveries immediately loaded onto all the floors. Distribution continued throughout the night, ensuring vast amounts of materials were available on all 15 floors to feed the short programme. 

With local stakeholders slow in offering access for the installation of an electricity substation on site (to cope with any power cuts) and no means of craning a transformer onto the roof of the landlocked building, Will came up with a far more effective alternative. He helicoptered the equipment in – five sling loads, taking just 21 minutes. 

He powered through the first fix to get ahead of programme before switching to a quality focus. The slowing of the pace allowed time and attention for a quality finish. Joinery, glazed screen, floor and wall finishes all took a can-exceed rather than can-do approach, making the extraordinary an ordinary occurrence.