SUMMER/17

Attention to detail delivers impeccable results at our 100th project

Twelve months into the project, the Rigby & Rigby team is on schedule for completion at the stunning 100th project in Kensington, which we are showcasing through this visual journal across the 18 months of the build.As the installation phases gets underway at the property in Kensington, inone of London’s most exclusive neighbourhoods, months of meticulous design work and process planning is starting to pay off with the complex sequencing of suppliers and precise specification of fixtures and fittings leading to a smooth finishing process at the Grade II Listed property.Mark Cowley, who leads Rigby & Rigby’s award-winning architectural studio, said: “This is an exciting time. We are approaching the finishing stages of the project and are seeing the hard work we did at the design stages come to fruition in terms of the smooth teamwork on site between multiple suppliers, under our direction, all of which is ensuring we can remain on schedule without compromising on quality of finish.For example, ahead of the installation phase, Rigby & Rigby undertook workshop-based sessions with its marble and joinery partners, based on detailed designs agreed with client, to ensure absolute precision and mutual understanding in terms of client expectations.Says Mark: “With the marble, it’s ‘measure twice cut once’. We go over and over and over it, leaving little chance for error and ensuring the marble is not only cut to precision, but installers are absolutely clear in terms of the design so that, when they walk away, it is exactly as the client specified.This effort in the planning phase has also now ensured that construction works on the innovative car lift, for which the team recently secured a highly rare, first-time planning approval, can get underway on site without interrupting the installation phase.“The logistics of starting construction again during the finishing phase are complex,” admits Mark. “We need to cleanly segregate construction activity from the work on site to install valuable interior fixtures and fittings. That’s where having such a structured and detailed approach to project planning has really helped us. By segregating the two activities completely and ensuring our construction team are regularly briefing everyone onsite of the additional complexity, we can ensure site safety, enable work to continue unabated inside the property and get the additional basement dig underway.”For Rigby & Rigby’s multi-talented team, this detail-oriented approach is not only applied to the planning process itself, but also illustrates how they have approached the project since the early design stages and what this means in terms of the end result for the client.Adds Mark: “As hard as we work to deliver beautiful, striking designs to every Rigby & Rigby client, we also make certain that we never forget functionality in pursuit of aesthetics. From the outset, we’ve worked hard to ensure designs for bespoke furniture, joinery or lighting look beautiful, but deliver outstanding functionality behind the scenes too. For example, we are building an office in the house and all of the bespoke joinery we have commissioned has channels for cabling and Wi-Fi boosters built into it which are easily accessible but invisible, giving a clean and uncluttered finish. It’s the same with every detail, from the lighting designed by Lighting IQ to the clever design of furniture door handles and our long term collaboration with specialist partners like Kitchen Architecture, all of which enables us to constantly strive for ways to deliver even better results for our clients.Into the autumn, the finishing touches will be added to the property with the arrival of bespoke furniture, accessories and special installations, such as a gym, pool and cinema room, designed to meet the needs of the client family’s lifestyle, hobbies and interests with the project scheduled to be handed back to the client early in 2018. Throughout the project, Rigby & Rigby has recorded the progress of the build with a time lapse camera and specially commissioned photography, and will reveal the transformation of the property, through this journal, as the build reaches its conclusion.

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