Project Overview
Sentinel was engaged for more than two years working at 20-22 Ropemaker Street, a new 27-storey mixed-use building in the heart of the City of London.
We provided commercial decorating and firestopping services at the £240 million structure, located just to the north of Moorgate station.
As one of London’s top specialist decorating and fire protection subcontractors, we were delighted to be invited by our client, Skanska, to play a key role in the development of this prestigious project. 20-22 Ropemaker Street was opened in early 2024, offering more than 400,000 square feet of office accommodation and nearly 12,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor.
The new building features a double-height entrance and lobby on Ropemaker Street, and a separate entrance for bicycles to encourage occupants to ride to work.
As well as the office space, there are five accessible roof terraces. Below ground, three basement levels are home to retail servicing, plant, facilities management and cycle and shower facilities.
There was a strong focus on sustainable construction techniques in delivering this sparkling addition to the city’s landscape. These included efficient water and energy use, a pledge that no waste would go to landfill, and the inclusion of materials that mitigate the impact on local ecosystems of the work being carried out.
Project Brief
Skanska commissioned us to design and install the firestopping works on the project, leveraging our expertise in built-in fire protection solutions. This part of the project took nine months between 2022 and 2023.
Once the soffits were installed and most of the passive fire protection work completed, Sentinel was also invited to paint and decorate. This included painting core walls and staircases in the floors dedicated to office space.
This offered us a key role at the heart of an exciting project to add another landmark to the busy local cityscape near City Point.
20-22 Ropemaker Street now stands 110 metres tall, and its natural limestone appearance echoes the stone used in the construction of many buildings in this part of the city and nearby Islington.
Challenges / Solution
One of the most challenging elements of our commercial decorating work at 20-22 Ropemaker Street was encountered in the basement. This is where the scheme for the new building envisaged 800 cycle spaces – and the lines marking them out had to be painted on the floors and walls and measured to an exact design. This included marking out all the numbers for the bike racks.
Our team of specialist decorators coated the floors with Flowcrete SP41 and four different colours, while the walls had two colours and an application of Dulux Scuffshield.
In the loading bay, five different colours were required on the floor, again to an exact design, as well as Flowcrete Deckshield. Two colours of paint were specified for the walls, and we needed anti-carbonation paint to prevent discolouration caused over time by exhaust fumes from vehicles entering and leaving the loading bay.
All core walls, including staircases and staircase lobbies, were treated with Dulux diamond matt RAL 9010. Doors, meanwhile, were coated with Dulux diamond satinwood RAL 7005, and the skirtings to the staircases were painted with Dulux diamond satinwood RAL 9010.
Blockwork walls in the basement were painted with Dulux diamond eggshell RAL 9010, while we used Watco universal sealer on the concrete walls and ceilings at the lower levels. The universal sealer was also deployed on the floors to all offices.
Toughseal RIW, a waterproof coating, was applied to plant-room floors in the basement. This product is designed specifically for areas at risk of flooding.
Our three-step firestopping process in the vent shafts left them fire resistant for 60 minutes. This also involved the installation of passive fire protection and a resin floor deck shield.
The Result
Sentinel is proud of its reputation as the UK’s preferred specialist decorating contractor, so we were delighted to receive positive feedback from Skanska on the work we completed, which involved minimal snagging.
20-22 Ropemaker Street was a flagship project for Sentinel. We used it as an opportunity to roll out our updated design and installation procedures in a live working environment.
These processes include new ways of delivering firestopping and passive fire protection under the Fire Safety Act 2021.
We also wanted to test our ability to apply the Golden Thread, introduced under the Building Safety Act 2023. This is a measure that ensures the individuals and teams responsible for building safety must keep a thread of information to help them to manage risk.
This information stream holds reliable, up-to-date and accurate information about the building’s compliance with regulations, as well as the steps taken to manage safety risks in the structure.
20-22 Ropemaker Street was awarded an Outstanding rating under the BREEAM “new construction 2018” standard, making it the largest commercial building to secure this accreditation.
It is also expected to receive the WELL V2 platinum standard, which encourages the creation of more thoughtful spaces that encourage health and wellbeing.
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Sentinel Contracting plc
Unit 2a Guildprime Business Centre,
Southend Road Billericay,
Essex CM11 2PZ
