One Town Centre
One Town Centre
O’Keefe is The One for Lovell
Project Overview:
Client: Lovell Homes
Scope of Works: Enabling Works, Groundworks and Frame, and External Paving
Project Start Date: July 2021
Phase 1 of the £20 million redevelopment of a key site in Hatfield town centre has drawn to a close, thanks in part to O’Keefe Construction.
As the main contractor on the One Town Centre project for principal contractor Lovell Homes, O’Keefe delivered sub-structure and part-superstructure packages over two years, having originally been contracted just to install site hoarding.
The scheme by Hunters architects now provides 71 one and two-bedroom apartments, including 28 for social housing, with 1,000m2 of ground floor retail units, over three blocks on the site of an old Pizza Hut and other buildings.
O’Keefe’s remit included the provision of a hauling road, piling attendance, installation of piling mats and drainage, construction of ground floor slabs, RC columns and walls to first floor, three podium slabs (Lovell installed a portal frame and decking slabs for the remainder of the three to four floors), and hard landscaping.
Lovell operations manager Russell Lane said: “O’Keefe were very proactive in their approach. They worked well with us, and their on-site team was really on the ball. They are certainly a company I would like to work with again. Their whole attitude to delivering this project was spot on.”
Russell explained that the installation of runs for wastewater and stormwater drainage systems had had to be conducted through multiple live services.
“We were expecting a heavy amount of services but O’Keefe’s approach to that was very good and we appreciated how much hard work it took to deal with it.”
One Town Centre is a key component, and a new gateway, of the regeneration of Hatfield by Welwyn and Hatfield Borough Council which aims to make it a thriving and attractive place for people to live, work and enjoy.
