Ivy Hall is a £6 million redevelopment that replaces a former single-storey community building and adjacent car park with a new purpose-built community centre and 23 social housing units.

Located at the junction of Crouch Hill and Holly Park in Islington, the scheme has created a welcoming and sustainable community resource for local residents.

Barratt Homes appointed Baily Garner to act as Employer’s Agent and Quantity Surveyor for the CAT B office fit-out of the second floor of Compton House in Guildford. The project involved transforming 10,053 ft² of space into a high-quality modern workspace that reflects the client’s identity and meets current workplace expectations.

Working under a JCT Design and Build contract, we oversaw the design development and delivery of the fit-out over two phases. The first phase focused on partitioning and isolating services in a smaller section of the floor, while the second phase completed the main build-out and additional service separations to enable future subletting flexibility.

Energy-efficient LED lighting and new air handling units were introduced as part of a sustainable building services strategy, ensuring comfort, functionality, and lower energy usage.

Tight programme constraints driven by the client’s relocation plans required close collaboration with the contractor and regular monitoring of progress. Our team ensured all deliverables were met within the eight-week timeline, achieving a successful handover.

Baily Garner was appointed by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) to lead the full refurbishment of a key operational building in London. The priority: deliver a modern, flexible working environment while ensuring the facility remained fully operational throughout the works.

The refurbishment aimed to support a more agile and collaborative workplace. This included reducing traditional desk setups in favour of open-plan layouts, improving welfare provisions such as lockers and staff relaxation areas, and integrating heightened security measures throughout the site.

Baily Garner provided a full multidisciplinary service from RIBA Stage 1 to 7. To ensure operations were unaffected, we engineered a temporary manifold power system in the courtyard, enabling switchovers without any loss of power to critical services. All construction materials were routed via basement and courtyard vents, avoiding the main circulation routes of the building.

Our architects worked in close consultation with MPS staff to reflect user needs in the final design. Welfare zones were designed to support staff wellbeing through calming layouts and materials, while reception and secure areas were enhanced with bespoke security solutions.

From a cost consultancy perspective, we preemptively addressed inflation risks by advising early procurement of key mechanical and electrical components. This allowed us to remain within budget and even extend the scope to include basement-level refurbishments, adding extra changing and locker space.

Court Collaboration set out to deliver a landmark residential development in Birmingham city centre — One East Side — comprising two towers, including one that rises to 51 storeys. When complete, it will be one of the tallest habitable buildings in the city. The development will deliver 667 high-quality homes and a wide range of resident amenities, including co-working spaces, gyms, a cinema, and Birmingham’s highest sky lounge and terrace. Landscaped gardens and courtyard spaces have also been designed to support wellbeing and community.

Baily Garner was appointed to provide Quality Control Inspections (QCI) and Building Services Engineering for this ambitious project. Our remit includes supporting site inspections throughout the build, reviewing programme progress, monitoring quality, and undertaking key benchmarking stages — including dry and wet benchmarks and final snagging inspections. We also take an active role in checking the golden thread of information, ensuring documentation and compliance are properly tracked and managed.

Our experience in complex, high-rise urban projects has allowed us to offer practical, proactive advice to both the client and delivery teams. Our presence has helped foster strong collaboration across the project, maintain high standards of construction, and keep the development on track for successful delivery.

Baily Garner was appointed to provide cost consultancy and project management services at each RIBA stage for the development of a new fire station in Crewe. The scheme included the design and construction of a BREEAM Good/Excellent-rated fire station, a breathing apparatus building, a training tower, and associated external works. The project also included the refurbishment and retention of an existing on-site bungalow.

Our role began by supporting value-for-money decisions through several order of cost estimates. As the scheme evolved—initially planned as a joint-use facility for Cheshire Police and Cheshire Fire — we adapted to changes in the brief when Cheshire Police withdrew due to budget constraints.

We provided cost advice and value engineering suggestions to help the client reduce costs while maintaining programme efficiency. One such intervention involved advising against an elongated programme, which would have significantly increased preliminary costs.

We also planned around the operational needs of the fire station, including the option of a temporary station to allow uninterrupted service during construction.

Rushmoor Borough Council appointed Baily Garner to support the regeneration of Aldershot town centre through the delivery of Union Yard — a vibrant mixed-use development comprising 100 residential units, 128 student accommodation units for the University for the Creative Arts, and 2,237m² of flexible commercial space. The scheme, delivered across five blocks, was designed to high standards in line with the Nationally Described Space Standards (NDSS) and Homes England funding requirements. With some blocks over 18m in height, the development also required full compliance with the Building Safety Act.

Baily Garner provided multidisciplinary services throughout the project lifecycle. Our team led weekly operational catch-ups and fortnightly progress meetings with the Council, managing decision logs and advancing the Golden Thread of information. We also chaired fortnightly design team meetings and weekly M&E workshops to ensure compliance with NDSS and Homes England standards.

To meet obligations under the Building Safety Act, Baily Garner coordinated documentation and submissions to the Building Safety Regulator (BSR), including the Regulation 38 pack and Gateway 3 application. This supported the client in meeting their duties while navigating an evolving regulatory environment.

Early delays caused by party wall issues posed a serious risk to programme delivery, with an initial 21-week impact forecast. Baily Garner conducted a robust analysis and led negotiations with stakeholders, securing a commercial agreement that reduced the delay to just five weeks — ensuring student accommodation would complete in time for the 2024 autumn term.

We also oversaw the negotiation and planning of s278 works, including stakeholder consultation and a traffic management strategy to mitigate community impact.

On site, Baily Garner set early quality benchmarks and deployed the Field View digital reporting app to track unit progress, identify remediation needs, and ensure issues were resolved to a documented and auditable standard. This transparent approach to quality control supported contractor performance and client confidence throughout.

The London Borough of Camden appointed Baily Garner to deliver energy performance improvements to 5–7 Belsize Grove, a hard-to-treat 19th-century Victorian villa located in a conservation area.

The brief focused on enhancing energy efficiency, thermal comfort and occupant health, while managing moisture and ventilation in line with PAS2035 standards. A key objective was to reduce carbon emissions and reliance on fossil fuels—ultimately helping residents cut energy bills.

Baily Garner acted as contract administrator and PAS2035 coordinator, taking on a multidisciplinary role. We led a fabric-first retrofit strategy, installing vapour-permeable, high-specification external wall insulation and replacing all windows with high-performance alternatives that respected the villa’s original appearance.

The works were planned with great care to minimise disruption to residents in this densely populated and continuously occupied building. The balance between conservation constraints and sustainable improvement was central to our approach.

The project reached Practical Completion in June 2024. It now stands as a model for effective, low-carbon retrofitting in challenging conservation area contexts—delivering tangible improvements in energy efficiency, comfort, and long-term affordability for residents.

John Hampden Grammar School appointed Baily Garner to lead the delivery of a new three-storey teaching block, containing 15 new classrooms.

We provided Project Management and Quality Control Inspector (Clerk of Works) services across all phases, from brief through to defects management. Our responsibilities included managing consultant appointments, planning submission, tender process and cost reviews pre-contract.

Post-contract, we chaired progress meetings, issued monthly cost reports, monitored expenditure, reviewed operations and maintenance documentation, and managed the final account and defects liability period.

Our Clerk of Works team carried out weekly site visits, monitored build quality and progress, and conducted snagging to reduce post-completion issues.

Midway through the programme, the school requested additional external works. We worked closely with Beard Construction to incorporate these within the original programme without delay. However, the easing of COVID-19 restrictions on 19 July 2021 resulted in labour and material shortages, causing a short delay.

Despite this, the block was delivered to a high standard, with minimal defects and a strong client endorsement.

Be First, the regeneration arm of Barking and Dagenham Council, appointed Baily Garner as employer’s agent to plan and manage the regeneration of Padnall Lake — an open space in Romford now set to provide 260 new homes and a revitalised park. Our role includes project management, cost consultancy and clerk of works services, guiding the scheme through changing requirements and delivery stages.

Originally designed around Modern Methods of Construction, the scheme faced compliance and budgetary risks. We advised on redesigning using traditional methods and led significant value engineering to manage costs and maintain viability. While Phase 1 progressed on site, we supported RIBA stages 1–3 for Phase 2, ensuring early-stage decisions aligned with programme and budget needs.

We also helped renegotiate contract terms following the move away from MMC, maintaining protective provisions such as liquidated damages. Working closely with the contractor, we agreed a payback mechanism for advance payments and provided bespoke cost reports to keep the client informed.

Our design team reviewed and developed the original permitted scheme, identifying opportunities to enhance the layout and increase unit numbers. Midway through, we successfully incorporated a rooftop extension via a carefully managed change process, ensuring coordination, planning compliance and programme continuity.

Despite the challenges of COVID-19 during the construction phase, we maintained momentum through agile project leadership and close collaboration with the contractor. Weekly site visits and ongoing communication ensured a consistent design approach and the timely delivery of new homes, including studios and one- and two-bedroom apartments.