Essential Install | Day In The Life: Avande UK
Taking It To The Bank!
Daniel J Sait met with Avande’s MD Ashley Said-Kirton and the rest
of the team to get a glimpse inside the bourgeoning river-side
London MDU market in this high-rise and high-stakes sector.
Avande is finding success in the London MDU sector
delivering complete electrical and automation schemes
for some of the best-known names in the property
developing business. Concentrating its efforts in central
London and along London’s South-Bank, it is no idle
hyperbole to say the company is operating in one of the
most high-pressured development areas on the planet, it’s
just a fact.
Attention to detail
is absolutely key
54 | September 2017
EI was given the full tour of a project on the Albert
Embankment, which is well past first-fix and about to enter
the business end of second-fix. Impressive architecturally
with its two-tower curved design and some of the best
views in London, this project offers a mix of communal
areas, apartments and two penthouses, all of which come
under Avande’s responsibility.
First, EI was keen to get a little more background: “I
was a sub-contractor for stand-alone houses for several
years,” explains Ashley. “In the beginning, it was wiring with
some lighting control, but gradually the projects got larger
and more complex and eventually I got to work on a 27
apartment block in St John’s Wood. This opened my eyes
to what was needed in this market.”
Ashley expands: “Often on projects where packages are
split, issues would come up with the AV contractors and
the electrical installation contractor disagreeing on who’s
responsibility a particular part of the project was. “Often there
was unhelpful finger pointing where the two disciplines met in
the middle, there were grey areas. It made sense to me to join
those two disciplines together, so no grey areas and no finger
pointing and only one company for the developer to deal
with who could deliver the whole package, from the wiring
and electrical infrastructure, right through to the security, IT,
automation, HVAC and AV. So Avande UK was born.”