C90 - Former King's Arms

The comprehensive redevelopment of the Category `C` listed former Kings Arms Hotel, to provide six amenity flats. The one and two bedroom accessible homes will be located in the heart of Irvine Town Centre.

Working with North Ayrshire Council and their design team, including Wellwood Leslie Architects, we are redeveloping this category C listed building to create six modern, energy-efficient amenity flats for rent.

The structure had fallen into disrepair in the years after the closure of the long-standing bar and restaurant in 2015, with the council purchasing the site in response to the lack of investment and the serious decline in the condition of the building.

The project will see the careful retention of the historic façade of the building, as it remains a landmark in its own right, with the rest of the dilapidated structure being completely redeveloped from the ground up.

The new one and two bedroom flats will become the latest homes to be created as part of the council’s ambitious housebuilding programme, which will see more than 1,600 new homes built across North Ayrshire.

The development is currently scheduled to be completed in the Autumn/Winter of 2025.

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Spring '25

Once the SFS walls are in place the windows can be installed – likely to be around late April into May.

The roof works include lots of leadwork and other details, and a large portion of the external brickwork needs to be complete before the slates will finally go on.

Once the scope is agreed the job of carefully repairing the old stonework and chimneys will also be undertaken.

Thereafter it’s on to the insides and getting ready for the finishes.

Image: Provost Anthea Dickson at the King’s Arms site with Irvine West Councillors Shaun Macaulay, Scott Gallacher and Chloe Robertson; Council officials and staff and representatives from McLaughlin Construction.

Chapel Lane

The ground levels in Chapel Lane, leading from High Street through to West Road, are being reconfigured as part of the project.

The carved stone paving has been carefully lifted and is being safely stored.

Coupled with the requirement to install a scaffold and the lack of space at that side of the building, this means the lane is closed and is likely to remain so until the project completes.

We appreciate this causes issues with access to the buildings, clubs etc. on West Road – unfortunately, there is no alternative, but it will be reopened as soon as possible.

Autumn/Winter '24/25

With the steel frame in place the team on-site are busy preparing to complete the skin around it.

Work on the roof is well underway and once the final roof trusses have been manoeuvred into place, the sheeted surface will be added, followed by the roofing membrane, essentially making it watertight.

Construction of the walls is about to get underway and once the SFS (Steel Framing System - a quick, strong method of building walls) is in place, the external brick skin can be constructed.

We have also started removing the old render from the historic walls, after which they will be surveyed again to establish the final scope of stonework repairs. This may be a little noisy from time to time but our teams are working only during sociable hours.

Image: Steel frame nearing completion with temporary trusses showing/amongst

Summer 2024

SITE START TO STEEL FRAME

This update covers what has happened on-site since the beginning of our involvement in the project, back in the summer of 2024.

Temporary works – as soon as we took possession of the site and got into dismantling the building, it became clear it was in even worse condition than initial investigations had revealed. The requirements of the temporary propping works (scaffolding, temporary metal trusses/beams and massive chunks of concrete) were far greater than anticipated, and the retention had to be redesigned.

Once that was safely in place we carefully removed the old fabric, with demolition completing in the middle of August ‘24, leaving behind only the important façades, held securely in place by our temporary structures.

Preparations continued with groundworks, including foundations and drainage, being undertaken, followed later in the autumn by the erection of the structural steel frame.

Going up very quickly (38 tons of steel, in only just over a week – concluded by end October) the ‘skeleton’ of the project rapidly started to appear, giving the first real representation of the form and scale of the finished building and possibly the only, momentary glimpse of its structural form.

Image: Temporary supports securing the historic facade