Hazlemere Commercial

Posted on 11/01/2017

Over years spent completing complex commercial developments, Buckinghamshire-based Hazlemere have developed an enviable reputation as one of the UK’s leading architectural aluminium suppliers. From schools and universities to office blocks and local authority buildings, the respected firm has demonstrated its expertise across hundreds of successful projects – and not that long ago, it completed the £2.5m renovation of Merton Civic Centre for the London Borough of Merton.

Designed in 1959 and built between 1960 and 1962, the building originally served as private offices, with a supermarket on the ground floor. In the 1980s, it was acquired by Merton Borough Council, who refurbished the offices and replaced the supermarket with lending and reference libraries, a central entrance and a council chamber – but by 2016, it was in dire need of a face-lift.

Working as the project’s principal contractor, Hazlemere Commercial replaced and recycled over 2,000 of the original steel-framed single-glazed windows that were deemed “unfit for purpose” by an independent glass and glazing consultant. In their place, the company installed thermally efficient Sapa Dualframe top swing reversible windows across the entirety of the Civic Centre’s 14-storey tower building, as well as its other two-storey wings. Made with 100% recycled aluminium billet, the products not only boast outstanding thermal performance, but their reversible functionality allows them to be safely and easily cleaned.

Hazlemere Commercial cleaned the building’s exterior brickwork and mosaic tile façade in the process, upgrading the lightning conductors and external decorating. They also replaced 14,000m2 of suspended ceiling tiles and redecorated two fire exit stairwells.

“This wasn’t just a very major project for us, but one of the most rewarding jobs we’ve done in recent years,” commented Hazlemere Sales Director Tony Beale. “When we were first called in, the building was in a bad way. It had massive potential - but at the time it had been completely encased in over 400 tonnes of scaffolding after all 2,000 of its existing 50-year-old windows had been ruled unfit for purpose. Now, it’s been transformed – the scaffolding has come down, and Merton Borough Council have windows fit for the twenty-first century.”