This sheltered housing project on Mill Road known as Ditchburn Place was an existing 3 storey building. The refurbishment that took place over two years, saw the addition of 6 new buildings, a brand new, centralised plant room as well as the refurbishment to the remaining 41 existing flats.
Working in a live occupied building with over 50 flats required detailed planning and management with main contractor Cocksedge Building Contractors and Cambridge City Council. Splitting the project into 5 phases allowed for the smooth running of the project and helped Munro to provide the best quality Mechanical installations for the housing’s infirm and elderly residents.
Breaking the project into multiple phases allowed the residents to continue living in the building with minimal impact. However, this posed the challenge of keeping services live in the occupied sections of the building whilst the works were being carried out.
A key addition to the building is the new plant room, as this will allow the building to centrally run a gas fired boiler system which then feeds singular heat interface units in each flat. This boiler system allows for a more eco-friendly and efficient approach to heating a large amount of individual spaces, as opposed to the previous set up.