Wilkinson’s 2024 Round-Up
19th December 2024
Wow, what a year! This year, we have been appointed on over 400 new projects and completed over 1,000 site inspections. As we reach the end of a momentous year, we proudly reflect back on the highs and challenges of what each month has brought us and how we came together as a team, supported our community and worked on some excellent projects.
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Let’s get started…
January:
Main highlight: We kicked off the year by highlighting the benefits of appointing early and why failing to do so can be an expensive lesson!
Key Project: Our team started working on the new TV Gantry at Maidstone United’s Gallagher Stadium – just as the Stones went on a memorable FA Cup run, beating Ipswich Town (98 places above them in the league) to make it to a Historic 5th Round tie with Coventry City.
Team: We enrolled all of our surveyors on the TTD scheme to enable them to obtain the required qualifications to register as RBI’s
Community: We released a case study of our Demelza House project.
Demelza Hospice Care for Children
Wilkinson Construction Consultants are proud to have been involved as the Approved Inspectors for the D construction of this new facility located in Sittingbourne.
Location: Sittingbourne, South East England
February:
Main highlight: February 2024 marked the start of our 15th Anniversary Celebrations, complete with a new logo.
Key Project: We were super happy to be appointed as the Building Control Body for the Jumbo Water Tower In Colchester. The 40m tall Victorian Water Tower is set to be converted to house a restaurant, visitor experience and historical interpretation space and it has support from the Griff Rhys Jones and the President of The Victorian Society. Keep following for more news on this project as it progresses.
Team: We celebrated Tracey Vollan’s 11th year as part of the team.
Community: Indeed for Business released a behind-the-scenes video of the Wilkinsons team and the support we have put in place for employees with disabilities such as Dyslexia.
March:
Main highlight: Whilst LABC were warning that the system could come to a grinding halt due to the lack of Inspectors, we completed our application to become registered building control approvers with time to spare.
Key Project: St Faiths Church & Community Centre opened. View full case study.
Team: Suzy Skilton was Voted Employee of the Quarter
Community: March saw us celebrate International Women’s Day – Did you know our wonderful team is made up of 50% women and proudly so?
April:
Main highlight: There was only one thing on everyone’s mind in April as the new Building Control system reached its key deadline of 6th April. We were hugely proud to announce that the Building Safety Regulator had confirmed our application had been successful and we formally became registered as one of the first RBCA’s in the country. We were also able to announce that we had Class 3 RBIs, meaning we could deal with even the most complex projects and those over 18m in height (excluding HRB).
May:
Main highlight: We were invited to speak at the Home Builders and High Rise Residential Sector Day training organised by FIS and held at BSI in Hemel Hempstead.
Key Project: We are appointed as RBCA for the Harlow Playhouse Project, a £20m regeneration of Harlow’s arts quarter plans include the redevelopment of land to the west of Harlow Playhouse and a new public square for events and outdoor performances, cinema and dining. The scheme also includes an additional building to provide commercial and community floor space at the ground floor level with 47 one- and two-bedroom flats above.
Environment: At Wilkinson Construction Consultants, we understand that our business operations have an impact on the environment, which is why we want to do our part to minimise it as much as possible. In May, we planted 12 trees to help offset our carbon footprint from the mileage our surveyors had driven.
Community: We took a look back at the many charities we have supported over the years, including Crisis Charity, Maidstone Homeless Care, RNLI, AquaAid, Diabetes UK, Macmillan Cancer and National Portage Association to name a few. For more information on our CSR efforts, visit https://wilkinsoncc.co.uk/corporate-social-responsibility/
June:
Main highlight: We became members of the new formed Association of Building Control Approvers. ABCA is the voice of private-sector building control. It works with key government bodies to raise standards of Building Regulations in the industry.
Key Project: We were appointed by Parkeray for the fit out of 25 Victoria street a high-rise class 3 project in Westminster.
Team: We got the team together to present the annual Keith Seeley Award. This year has been filled with challenges, new processes, and regulations, and every single team member has worked incredibly hard, facing all the stress and obstacles head-on. We felt it was only right to share the award with the whole team rather than single out an individual to recognise everyone’s tremendous efforts. Keith was always a true team player, and we’re sure he would have approved of this decision with a big smile.
Community: We remembered those who lost their lives, homes, families and loved ones in the Grenfell Tower Tragedy as June marked 7 years since that awful day.
25 Victoria Street
Wilkinson Construction Consultants were successfully appointed as the Approved Building Inspectors on another project in Central London, for a Grade A Office Fit Out project.
Location: London
July:
Main highlight: As part of our 15th Anniversary Celebrations, we took a look back over the 6500 projects (yes, 6500!) that we had been appointed on since we were first set up in 2019.
Key Projects: We were pleased to see a return of confidence to retail in the West End of London as were appointed as Building Control Approver on the Vuori Clothing store on Regent Street and the CELINE store on New Bond Street.
Team: We took a look at a day in the life of our Building Control Manager, Mike Chambers.
Community: We renewed our sponsorship of The Big Issue magazine. For over 30 years, The Big Issue has been committed to ending poverty in the UK. They create opportunities for the most vulnerable and marginalised people in the UK to improve their lives, and every subscription purchase supports The Big Issue’s mission.
August:
Main highlight: August is traditionally a quiet month as everyone goes on holiday. But at Wilkinsons, we are super busy on projects in the education sector as schools are out and the inspectors are in! As well as the usual summer refurbishments, we were out and about inspecting 2 major school buildings at Beths Grammar School in Bexley and St Edmund’s School Canterbury.
September:
Main highlight: We were delighted to pass our ISO 9001 audit with flying colours and gave a big thank you to Chloe for all her hard work in helping us with this great achievement.
Key Projects: September saw Offsite Manufacturing week, and we took a trip down to Southampton to visit the factory at GoModular, where one of our clients had a house built offsite that was ready for delivery in South London.
Team: Mike Chambers was awarded the Employee of the Quarter award by his peers for several reasons. First and foremost, Mike has remained a true team player, going above and beyond to support his colleagues even under the intense pressures we’ve faced lately.
Community: We were invited to be a part of the Make Work Pay Roundtable to provide the perspective of small businesses. It was a powerful and productive conversation about ensuring that workplace rights are fit for the modern economy. As part of our ESG policy and responsibility as an SME, we are delighted to be part of these movements to help make a difference.
October:
Main highlight: October saw the first of 3 Architects Journal Building Safety Masterclass hosted by our very own Geoff Wilkinson; almost 300 Architects attended the online events, which took a deep dive into the role of the Principal Designer.
Key Projects: October also saw the opening of the new Boys Boys Boys Gallery in Fitzrovia. The Gallery is a new cultural hub to promote queer and gay fine art and we were pleased to have been appointed as the RBCA for the scheme.
Team: As part of our 15th anniversary celebrations, we reached out and took a look back at several of our former employees to see where they are now and to hear some of their wonderful memories of their time at Wilkinsons.
New Rules: The 1st of October saw Approved Document Part T come into force along with updates to Part M and Part G. We took a look at what these changes meant and updated our clients on the changes.
End of an Era: October also saw the final days for Approved Inspectors as the transitional period ended and those who had failed to become RBCA could no longer trade, which included several large names in the sector. The Building Safety Regulator also published an update on Sanctions against several Approved Inspectors that had been investigated by the HSE.
November:
Main highlight: The highlight for November was the new Costa Coffee drive-thru, plus four industrial units in Maidstone. We look forward to bringing updates on this project as it breaks ground in 2025.
Key Projects: We are pleased to continue our long standing relationship with Esquire Developments as we are appointed on their latest project to deliver 44 new homes at the Fenn Bell site in St Mary Hoo. The project will not only deliver new homes but will also provide funding to upgrade the Fenn Bell Conservation Project, which runs the Zoo on the adjacent site and helps ensure and protect endangered exotic and native animals.
Community: We observed the 2 minutes silence on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. The poppy has special meaning to us at Wilkinson’s as Geoff’s grandfather, William Wilkinson, was based in Ypres and was responsible between the wars for the upkeep of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery, whilst Amanda was born in Aylesford, the home of the Royal British Legion village.
December:
Main highlight: December is the month when we support Small Business Saturday. A national campaign seeks to promote the use of small businesses as an alternative to the large brands featured on Black Friday / Cyber Monday. Geoff was interviewed for BBC Radio to help promote small businesses within Kent and Sussex.
Team: December sees the team let their hair down at the staff Christmas dinner – this year held at the amazing Cooling Castle Barn.
Community: Our minds turn to those less fortunate than ourselves as we support Crash Homeless Charity rather than buying Christmas cards, and staff taking part in the Christmas Jumper Day, raising money for Mid Kent Mind.
As we close out what has been an extremely challenging year for the construction industry—and particularly for our dedicated staff, who have undergone the process of requalifying to continue doing the work we love—we want to take a moment to express our heartfelt thanks to you, our clients, for your unwavering support over the past year.
Looking ahead, 2025 marks the final months of our year-long anniversary celebrations. We’re optimistic it will be a successful, enjoyable, and rewarding year for us all. Here’s to building a brighter future together!
