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Marla Custom Blinds Help Transform Council offices

Marla Custom Blinds were approached by Christchurch City Council and asked to quote for the manufacture and installation of 60 blinds suitable for an office environment as part of a major refurbishment of the Christchurch council’s offices in Bridge Street, Christchurch.

After discussions with Christchurch Council Architectural Surveyor it was decided that the 60 blinds would consist of 55 flame retardant vertical blinds for the main office levels and 5 aluminium venetian blinds for the ground floor reception area.

The project specification was that each floor with vertical blinds would have a mixture of grey and coloured blinds to differentiate each of the five office levels and the venetian blinds would be of a colour to match the existing reception décor. It was further specified that all works had to be completed within 7 weeks.

The colours decided upon for the vertical blinds were grey plus mandarin on level 1, marina on level 2, sunflower on level 3, lime green on level 4 and redcurrant on level 5. This colour coding not only achieved the specification of differentiating each floor but it also created a bright and colourful working environment.

As we had been engaged directly by Christchurch Council it meant that we had to liaise with and work safely with the main contractor who was carrying out structural refurbishment works in the building concurrently. We were also required to comply with a requirement that all installers hold CSCS cards and have been trained on asbestos awareness.

We won the contract thanks to our competitive pricing, our reputation for quality, and our ability to comply with all the client’s requirements.

With a contract value of almost £8000, we were mindful that this was a significant investment by Christchurch Council and we ensured that at all times we were meeting the project specifications and the client was kept fully informed of progress at all stages.

All blinds were manufactured in our Fareham factory and were ready for installation within 4 weeks of the initial site survey. The venetian blinds for the reception and the vertical blinds for levels 2, 4 and 5 were installed by our own highly skilled in-house installers but unfortunately refurbishment works on levels one and three had not been completed and so a second phase installation took place 2 weeks later to complete the installation.

The Christchurch council offices project, from initial survey to completion could have been achieved in a little over 4 weeks but due to the slight delay, the project was completed in a little over 6 weeks – still ahead of the specified 7 weeks deadline.

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