The Brief

In November 2016 Newspan shared the industry’s shock to see Ansell Garden Centre appearing in the headlines for being destroyed by a devastating fire. Paresh Raithatha, managing director of Ansell, recalls the event; “There couldn’t have been a worse time to suffer such a blow to our business… we were holding more stock than at any other time of year and looking forward to a busy run up to Christmas”. Fortunately, nobody was injured in the fire, although the damage to the garden centre and all its stock was catastrophic.

Within a couple of days of hearing the news Newspan were on site to offer support and to try and help find a way forward for Ansell Garden Centre. “Support from our customers, suppliers and the industry afterwards was overwhelming”. Led by Paresh, the team at Ansell showed unwavering spirit and sought after a way for them to start trading again, as soon as possible; “within just a few days, we had reopened from a gazebo in the car park, and that was how we continued to operate while planning the new garden centre”.

Initial discussions with Paresh made it clear he had bigger plans than to just replace what had been on site previously. Ansell wanted to use this opportunity to rebuild in a way that was tailored for their needs with a brand new centre. Newspan were quickly shortlisted to provide a proposal on the new masterplan at Ansell; “We opened a dialogue with Newspan early on inviting them, along with other contractors, to look at architects Malcolm Scott’s plans and submit their proposal…we quickly narrowed down the list of potential building suppliers”.

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  • Design
    Precise Value Engineering

    Newspan worked closely with the customer through with a careful eye on the budget.

  • Deliver
    High Levels of Communication

    The on site team were well supported by the office team and communication with the customer was maintained throughout.

The Solution

During the ‘Design’ phase there were many changes to the building and Newspan maintained a flexible approach throughout, taking the time to discuss each potential modification with Paresh in depth. The planning process was made slightly more complicated by Ansell Garden Centre being within the bounds of “The London Plan”, which imposed stringent performance ratings that the buildings needed to achieve.  To accomplish this within the budget of an independent, family run business Newspan value-engineered the project wherever possible; “Newspan worked closely with us through every revision of the design and maintained constant communication to make sure we ticked all the bureaucratic boxes, without going over our budget”. Combining the constraints of ‘The London Plan’ and the close proximity to Heathrow airport meant that the planning actually took 28 weeks, rather than the 14-18 weeks Paresh and his team were hoping for.

Paresh was keen to maintain trading through the project and they managed to continue this in all weathers, still with the tills underneath the gazebo that they purchased two days after the fire! Once the build got underway Paresh’s time was understandably being pulled in all directions so Newspan maintained pretty much one point of contact for him in the office with the rest of the team working in the background; “Rather than always needing to go via the main contractor, direct contact with Dan improved communication, which was excellent throughout.  Newspan’s team in the office gave great support too”.

Following a mid-May start, the Newspan team were done on site by mid-August and the team at Ansell Garden Centre were ready for a soft opening in November 2018, pretty much two years to the day after the fire. The stunning new 2,090m2 garden centre incorporates a café, a polycarbonate canopy, an aquatics concession, three staircases, mezzanine floor and a lattice rafter framed entrance porch. Paresh and his team now have a purpose built, modern, high performing Garden Centre ready to welcome not only their loyal customer but also introduce some new faces to the Ansell experience. Paresh and his customers are both thrilled with the outcome; “feedback from our customers has been amazing and we’re really looking forward to our first summer of trading in the new building”.

Although the new store hasn’t been open long Paresh has progression on his mind and is already thinking ahead; “We already have plans for more development within the next couple of years, and Newspan have put themselves in a strong position to be back here working with us again then”.

“We already have plans for more development and Newspan have put themselves in a strong position to be back here working with us again”.

Special Projects

Newspan’s structures can be adapted to suit many public access applications.