Lockmeadow Entertainment Centre: Phase 3
All Case StudiesImproving Maidstone Market for locals and visitors alike
Maidstone Borough Council, working in partnership with Graham & Sibbald, selected us following a competitive tender process, to help them deliver the third phase of refurbishment works at the Lockmeadow Entertainment Centre in Maidstone. Having completed the recent external refurbishment in 2020 and subsequent food hall fit out in 2021, we were delighted to be involved again.
Since 2020, Lockmeadow has undergone a complete makeover – transforming from a dated, underutilised building into an attractive leisure centre with modern facilities and amenities, benefitting both local businesses and visitors. To complete the transformation, however, the Maidstone Market site was still in need of modernisation and upgrading to facilitate the bi-weekly event.
Maidstone Market is held in the under-croft car park and across at the independent Market Hall building, offering fresh local produce and a variety of gift and accessory stalls for visitors. The Market Hall can also be hired out for various events and functions, and benefits from an onsite café complete with external terrace.
Our brief was to carry out a full external refurbishment and repairs to improve and modernise the site, in keeping with the new branding. We were also tasked with refurbishing sections of Lockmeadow’s East elevation, which were omitted from the scope of phase one.
The Works
The improvements to the Market Hall building included a complete restoration of the roof, façade repairs and both interior and exterior redecorations.
We carried out roof recoating, which included removing and then recommissioning solar panels, and carried out repairs across the roof lights. The high level gutters, facias and all external metal elements were refurbished and re-sprayed in anthracite colour to present a clean and cohesive finish.
Meanwhile, the ground floor level doors, windows and roller shutters throughout the market hall building and storage units were refurbished and re-coated and new signage installed in keeping with Maidstone Market’s new look.
The sections of Lockmeadow’s East elevation, including lintels, concrete curtain walling and the rear entrance, were decorated and re-sprayed in anthracite colour to match the rest of the building.
The under-croft car park, which had previously been poorly lit and had an unappealing presentation, has been completely transformed to create a bright and inviting market space – achieved by over-coating the soffit and painting all the columns in the Maidstone Market brand colours. To finish the look, we fitted new floodlights to each of the columns, providing an extra source of light to warm up the space and give it a modern feel.
This is the 3rd time I have worked with Form and again it has been a pleasure from start to finish. The standard of work is exceptional and they always go the extra mile to make sure the client is happy. This job has had its challenges including it being a live site but all the Form team are so helpful and professional they just manage to make things work. They appreciate that as a local authority we have to achieve value for money and they even managed to deliver the project under budget. Well done!
Alexa Kersting-Woods Leisure Property Manager, Maidstone Borough Council
Working with and for the community
With the Maidstone Market remaining fully operational throughout the duration of our work, this was a project which required a considerate and consistent approach to health and safety, focussing on site logistics and close coordination with building management to ensure the site remained 100% safe for our team and for visitors.
While this collaborative approach enabled us to work without disrupting the market’s business, for the Form team it meant our site setup had to be packed down and moved bi-weekly to allow for the market to function with minimum interruption. Another challenge we faced during the project was poor weather and more specifically, severe winds, which hindered progress for two weeks. We overcame this by working flexible shifts and engaging with our local supply-chain, allowing us to swiftly address any programme changes and adjust delivery dates accordingly.
Project Manager, Simon Harwood said: ‘’This was a demanding project, largely because the cinema and other surrounding businesses within the complex remained open throughout the duration of our work on the Market Hall and car park, meaning we did not have exclusive use of the space. There was also a residential block adjacent to rear of the market hall that required special consideration, especially with regard to the roofing works on Market Hall and the control of excess noise, plus the inconvenience this presented.
Working within an active and busy environment presents an enormous challenge in terms of health, safety and environmental issues, not to mention minimising noise and disruption. We had to ensure that the facilities manager, Market Hall manager and key stakeholders were onsite regularly, to ensure each phase of the work was planned and communicated with minimum impact on the centres daily operations.’’
Despite these challenges, our previous experience working at Lockmeadow, combined with our comprehensive understanding of both the operational requirements and our client’s expectations, allowed us to deliver the project to both the programme and to the client’s satisfaction.
In addition, as a local contractor we are particularly proud to have been part of the ongoing regeneration of the Maidstone area.
