This building sits within the Hans Town conservation area in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, in close proximity to Harrods, Knightsbridge. 15 Basil Street is 7 storeys and a basement level and currently operates as a short term lease apartment block, principally for visitors from overseas with large family groups. Our client, The Lancaster Hotel, wished to investigate the potential impacts of removing columns in certain locations to accommodate the proposed reconfigured space planning, principally at basement and ground floor levels as part of a wider refurbishment scheme. In order to undertake this work, we needed to liaise with building management to facilitate timely (vacant) access to areas of the building to minimise guest disturbance and ensure business continuity for the client. The building is in almost constant use and so the opportunities to carry out intrusive investigation works was extremely limited. Given this constraint, and the absence of archive structural information on the building, CRE8 Structures adopted the non-destructive approach that uses Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), which can provide construction form information. This enabled the structural elements to be located without damage to the finishes or disruption to use of the apartments. This is a highly efficient method of gathering data, with each apartment taking approximately 30 minutes to survey.
15 Basil Street
Client:The Lancaster Hotel Group
Architect:Ashleigh House Developments
Delivery date:July 2019
Location: Knightsbridge, London