The Whitehouse SE1 is an enviable landmark location on London’s South Bank which dominates the Waterloo area. Originally built in the late 1950s and early 1960s as part of the Royal Dutch Shell Oil Campus which once spanned 7 acres of the South Bank, this particular building – over 40,000sqm of space – was converted from offices to residential apartments around 1997-2000. EK RCAs was brought in over the autumn of 2020 to carry out a full elemental reinstatement cost assessment.
Now comprising around 380 flats with commercial units including a Brasserie Blanc and a Pizza Express, the complex also includes a residents’ gym, pool, and underground car park, and a large open air fountain.
Our assessment included a full survey of all 12 storeys and both subterranean levels including an examination of the basement sub-floor superstructure where we uncovered a rather enchanting autographed beam from the substructure subcontractor.
The Whitehouse SE1 was eventually calculated to a net build rate of £2,749.10/m2 which after the effect of VAT brought the total declared value to £170m.
James Paul from EK RCAs says: this was an exciting project for us to get ourselves involved with. The high level of regularity and repetition amongst many of the building elements enabled our net rebuild rates to dip below the £3,000/sqm mark, which is unusual for buildings of such prominence in central London, and especially as the cladding system was of Portland stone. Helped by the fact that the lift internal common parts were arranged in a grouped, linear fashion this enabled us to keep the calculation below £500k a unit, which is impressive for apartments of such opulence.
EK RCAs provided a full breakdown of the overall declared value figure including split-outs identifying the individual build costs for the leisure complex, all the commercial units, the underground car park, external areas and the residential flats themselves, putting the property manager and client in a fully informed position to apportion the costs of insurance proportionally – all of which is all part of the service for anyone commissioning EK RCAs on a mixed use development.
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