BAM appointed for David Morley's Fish & Coal scheme at Kings Cross
Hemel Hempstead, 24 November 2014 - BAM Construction has won the contract to refurbish London’s historic Fish and Coal buildings into a Jamie Oliver Group pub, restaurant and creative centre. The contractor will convert the 150-year-old buildings, which follow the curve of the Regent’s Canal, into modern offices, studios and dining spaces under the deal with developer the King’s Cross Central Partnership, led by Argent.
Jamie Oliver Group will open a restaurant within the brick arches on the canal-level floor, and on the ground floor. It will also open a pub in the Western end of the building, with a roof conservatory and an outdoor roof terrace, and base staff in offices and studios on the upper floors.
The scheme represents BAM’s latest involvement at Kings Cross. It will draw on a combined heat and power plant within the wider development as part of its work to target a ‘BREEAM Excellent’ rating. Local apprentices will be used from the on-site construction training programme.
BAM has just begun work on-site, with completion scheduled for spring 2016.
The Fish and Coal buildings were built as offices to house clerks employed to monitor the flow of freight through goods yards along the canal from the railways. The first block was built in 1851 as part of Lewis Cubitt’s design for the Goods Yard. Additional blocks were built in the early 1860s. The building was gutted following a fire in the 1980s, and floors and roofs have been rebuilt. Work will be led by Ewen Hunter, who won a coveted construction manager of the year award for transforming the site’s historic Western Transit Shed.
BAM recently secured a contract on the refurbishment of the German Gymnasium at King’s Cross and has previously completed the University of the Arts London’s home on the site, as well as the Western Transit Shed’s transformation into modern office space. It is also working on three buildings around Pancras Square collectively known as Zone B of the regeneration scheme.
BAM Construction director Mike Donegan said: ‘BAM is very pleased to continue its work on this landmark central London development. BAM is behind something like a dozen structures here. Our work here for Argent shows how trusted and successful we are at turning the most ambitious and high profile projects into reality for the UK’s leading developers.’
Elsewhere in London, BAM has created corporate headquarters for UNISON, Burberry, Macmillan Books, Cancer Research UK, and Freshwater Group, and is behind signature buildings for clients such as the Natural History Museum, Great Ormond Street Hospital, Lords Cricket Ground, and Network Rail, BUPA and Camden Council, among many others.
Further information: Mark Slattery, press and media manager, BAM Construct UK Ltd, 01442 238415.