As collaborations become more frequent, and multidisciplinary teams are asked to deliver increasingly complex work, it is interesting to hear of a team from 14 different businesses, that covers 16 separate disciplines, which are all from the one Group!
A team from RSK is supporting the redevelopment of Fort Halstead in Sevenoaks, Kent. The project is a complex brownfield redevelopment project that will create a new 635-home community, including a mix of private residential properties, public open space, commercial employment units and a primary school. Ancient semi-natural woodland (some 1,600 individual trees) and the existing Fort Halstead (a scheduled ancient monument), as well as other historically important buildings, will be retained, with the fort converted to create a historic interpretation centre, capturing the site’s history.
CS2 Chartered Surveyors, an RSK company, is project-managing the work to prepare the site for the client, Barratt David Wilson Homes Kent (BDW), with RSK companies contributing to this over a two-year period.
Paul Crowe, CS2 director and Fort Halstead project management lead, explained: “RSK began supporting BDW in November 2023 through pre acquisition due diligence, with activity intensifying following acquisition in September 2024. The project is now in the demolition and enabling phase, being delivered by the appointed contractor, Soilfix, alongside heritage, ecology and civil engineering design to ensure progress is carefully managed in an exceptionally sensitive and operational environment.”
Under the RSK approved Material Management Plan, the development will be reusing some 48,000 cubic metres of soil during the enabling works phase with the intention to reuse up to a further 80,000 cubic metres during the construction phase.
Paul added: “Fort Halstead brings together an unusually wide and active stakeholder landscape, including defence related partners, residents and office occupiers remaining on site, statutory bodies and the local community. Our role is to provide a single, trusted point of control that allows all parties to operate safely and confidently while enabling the project to move forward.
“By integrating demolition, remediation and design, we are managing risk at every stage, protecting nationally important heritage assets, safeguarding ecology and maintaining day to day site operations. That coordinated approach gives clients, regulators and stakeholders assurance that change is being delivered responsibly, transparently and with minimal disruption.”
The works include remediation of buildings to be retained, controlled demolition of redundant structures, remediation of contaminated ground, safe and appropriate material reuse and recycling, and preparing serviced parcels ready for construction.
“This is about more than enabling development, it is about creating certainty on a complex site, maintaining trust with stakeholders and laying the foundations for sustainable delivery,” Paul continued. “For clients managing estates with historic uses, ongoing occupation or security sensitivities, the strength of RSK lies in our ability to bring multiple disciplines together under one management structure, allowing complex schemes to progress safely while respecting the people, history and environment already in place.
“When the site is handed over to BDW at the end of our project work it will be ready for the team to start work on the construction of the new housing development.”
RSK companies supporting BDW and delivering project work include:
- CS2 – project management and building surveying
- RSK Geosciences – due diligence, ground investigation, geotechnical and contaminated land risk assessment and consultancy, remediation strategy and verification, topographic survey, geophysics, PAS 128 survey and buried services avoidance
- SK Ordnance Management – on-site unexploded ordnance engineer support during ground investigation supporting RSK Geosciences
- Central Alliance – drilling services, working alongside RSK Geosciences
- Envirolab – chemical testing supporting RSK Geosciences
- RSK Biocensus – ecology surveys, clerk of works and arboriculture services
- Headland Archaeology – heritage and archaeology, including the preservation of protected features (including the fort, a scheduled ancient monument)
- RSK Acoustics – acoustics, noise and vibration monitoring
- RSK Air Quality – air quality and dust monitoring
- SK Asbestos – asbestos surveys and on-site support
- Nature Positive – Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM)
- RSK Environment –construction environmental management plan
- RSK Land and Development Engineering – civil engineering including design and coordination of the on-site and off-site highway and drainage infrastructure
- SCP – principal designer, transport planning and road safety, including a new bus network.
RSK Geosciences operations director Darren Beesley said the size, history and complex nature of the site, including the previous military research use, made for a challenging and fascinating project that draws on a range of disciplines and services provided by RSK Group businesses.
“When the London Defence Scheme ended in 1906, Fort Halstead was retained as an ammunitions store, with a laboratory and new buildings added, until it passed into private hands in the 1920s. It was bought by the War Office in 1937 and built up during the war years. Until recently, it was home to the Ministry of Defence’s, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, which carried out research into explosives and weapon systems. The site also had its own fire station and a petrol filling station.
“Challenges associated with a project of this nature include the sheer size of the site, which covers an area of some 70 hectares with about 18 hectares earmarked for development, the number of buildings to be demolished and historically important buildings that will be retained. The complex nature of the project recognises the site’s historical uses, the need for demolition and sustainable and carbon-efficient remediation, to deliver a safe development platform, minimising waste soils and maximising materials reuse, along with an emphasis on protection of heritage assets, protecting the ancient woodland and enhancing ecology and biodiversity on site.”
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