Track record

Majestic Wine Store (former public house), Godalming

Majestic Wine

Planning Consultant, Building Surveyor and Employer’s Agent on this conversion, extension and fit-out project.

Building Surveying

Project Management

Service

£500,000

Project value

Retail & Leisure

Industry

James Porter

The project

Rapleys were appointed as Planning Consultant, Building Surveyor and Employer’s Agent on this conversion, extension and fit-out project. We identified the site, supported the client with acquisition, developed the design, collated/submitted a planning application and obtained consent for change of use. The building had stood vacant for a long period of time and had become a hotspot for fly-tipping, along with general deterioration impacting the historic streetscape in a conspicuous location. Its subsequent development and end use was warmly received by the local community. The development included the restoration of the existing historic building, followed by modern fit-out of the Majestic Wine Warehouse, creating a flagship store to accommodate traditional sales, alongside fine wine tasting events.

Due to time constraints, we developed a design and build procurement strategy with the client, on a negotiated basis with their preferred contractor. This enabled design and construction stages to overlap. A collaborative approach and acceleration of the programme within the condensed timescale allowed the grand opening to take place on the originally planned date.

Our solution

Appointed a structural engineer to survey the existing building and identify immediate and long-term risks. The structural engineer was novated to the Principal Contractor and recommended remediation works completed, including re-coating steel structure and reducing chimney stack heights.
Moisture to basement – utilised existing air brick penetrations to retrofit mechanical ventilation and installed a sump pump for flood conditions.
Budget restrictions – with the condition of the historic building and an obligation to improve the thermal performance, the budget came under immense pressure and numerous examples of value-engineering were identified in both buildability and specification.
A new 3-phase electrical supply was required but could not be installed prior to grand opening. A mitigation strategy was implemented to open the store on the existing single-phase supply and then seamlessly switch to the permanent 3-phase supply at a later date.
The existing roof structure was utilised to form a vaulted ceiling, creating an aesthetically pleasing and unique feature.