THE OPPORTUNITY
As Waitrose & Partners rapidly increased and evolved their online offering in response to demand, which grew exponentially during the Covid-19 restrictions, new infrastructure was urgently required to cope with the increase in sales and subsequent storage and fulfillment requirements at one of their flagship new stores, in Peterborough.
Following KBS’ successful appointment onto the preferred supplier framework for Waitrose & Partners, the E-commerce expansion project was directly allocated to KBS and then confirmed once price and contract terms were agreed.
THE DELIVERY
KBS were pleased to be working alongside main contractors ISG Ltd, with whom we have enjoyed several successful project partnerships. The 10-week construction programme, installation and fit-out of this new building employed a modular construction process to achieve the swift delivery.
This was one of the first modular constructions developed for Waitrose and incorporated a number of new technological advances. This presented challenges for our project management and design teams, as well as the team on-site. Amongst these, due to the structural make-up of the building, KBS had to devise a way of supporting containment to minimise its load-bearing forces and the risk of wall penetrations on the relatively lightweight modular structure. KBS’ recommendations involved a streamlined but robust fixing method devised quickly by our senior designer, drawing on his many years of experience. This was approved by ISG and provided a unique, practical, and effective solution without any delay to the programme.
THE OUTCOME
KBS are proud to have delivered this exciting and challenging new project on time and on budget, and to have received great feedback from the client. The successful completion of the project, as well as further cementing KBS’ great relationships with both Waitrose and ISG, directly led to the award of a similar project in Wales.
