Mansion Block Communal Areas, Sloane Square

The Challenge

The primary challenge was logistics. With 42 occupied flats, constant foot traffic, deliveries, and tradespeople moving through the building daily, we needed a work plan that kept communal areas safe, clean, and accessible at all times. Residents included several elderly leaseholders with mobility concerns, families with young children, and professionals working from home — all with different tolerance levels for disruption and different daily patterns that our programme needed to accommodate. The original Edwardian tilework in the entrance lobby and terrazzo flooring on upper landings required heavy-duty protection using hardboard sheeting and self-adhesive floor film, and paint odour needed to be minimised given the enclosed stairwell that acted as a natural chimney, drawing fumes upward through the building. The ornate plaster cornicing on the upper floors had suffered significant water damage from the recently repaired roof, with sections of the fifth-floor hallway cornicing requiring complete reconstruction to match the original egg-and-dart profile. The freeholder imposed a firm condition that work proceed without any fixed scaffolding in the communal areas — only stepladders and mobile tower scaffolds were permitted, which complicated access to the high stairwell ceiling and the upper reaches of the six-storey staircase void. Additionally, the building's passenger lift needed to remain operational throughout the project, restricting our ability to use the lift lobby areas as staging or storage zones.

Our Approach

We developed a detailed phased programme, working from the top floor down to avoid contaminating completed areas. Each floor was isolated with dust screens at stairwell junctions, and we used exclusively low-VOC paints — principally Dulux Trade Diamond Matt and Dulux Trade Satinwood — to minimise odour for residents. Damaged cornicing was repaired by our specialist fibrous plasterer before painting commenced; the fifth-floor sections required new moulds to be taken from intact sections on the floors below, with replacement pieces cast in our workshop and fixed in situ, ensuring seamless profiles that matched the original Edwardian egg-and-dart detailing precisely. All woodwork — including dado rails, skirting boards, door frames, flat entrance door surrounds, and the main entrance door surround with its fanlight — was hand-prepared using a systematic process of washing, sanding, filling, spot-priming, and caulking before receiving two full coats of Dulux Trade Satinwood in a warm off-white. The iron balustrade, spanning all six floors, was cleaned back to bare metal where corrosion was present, primed with Hammerite Direct to Rust primer, and finished in a traditional dark bronze using Hammerite Smooth Metal Paint. Walls received two coats of hardwearing Dulux Trade Diamond Matt in a warm stone tone — Dulux Egyptian Cotton — selected by the building's appointed interior consultant. The entrance lobby received a premium finish using Farrow & Ball Slipper Satin on the feature walls flanking the main entrance, complementing the original tile dado. We maintained a daily communication log with the managing agent, posted progress notices in the lobby each Monday morning, and held weekly walk-around inspections with the property manager to ensure standards were maintained consistently across every floor.

The Result

The project was completed on schedule and within budget, with zero complaints from residents — a significant achievement for a communal works programme of this scale. The managing agent reported that several residents had written to the management company to compliment the quality of the finish and the courtesy of our team, with one long-standing leaseholder describing the hallways as looking better than at any time in her thirty years of residence. The entrance lobby in particular was transformed, with the restored cornicing, freshly painted ironwork balustrade, and the Farrow & Ball feature walls flanking the entrance creating a far more impressive first impression for visitors and prospective tenants. The freeholder approved the works at first inspection with no snagging items — the surveyor commented that the woodwork preparation and consistency of finish across all six floors was exemplary. The managing agent subsequently placed us on their approved contractors list for all their Chelsea and Kensington managed properties, and we have since completed communal area redecorations in two further buildings under their management.