K-Land Construction
Jersey’s K-LAND Construction was founded over twelve years ago. The Partnership grew from two sole trader’s working together (founders Jerry Sutherland and Barry Kelso) to a limited company within the space of seven years.
The partnership began as a small local business, concentrating on residential conversions and extensions. On a small island news travels fast, and K-LAND quickly gained a loyal customer base, known for trustworthy, reliable construction and building works.
K-LAND’s team has grown to a team of 11, with 4 in office staff, 2 on site foreman, 3 carpenters and 2 labourers all passionate about upholding high standards of quality craftsmanship and customer care.
PREMIER CONSTRUCTION CHANNEL ISLANDS sat down with Director and founder Jerry Sutherland, and Finance Director Karen Depledge to discuss some of the company’s most recent projects.
Villa Capri is one of K-LAND’s most impressive projects to date and the company’s first project over 1 million pounds. Before the works began Villa Capri was a 1970’s build property, which was large but very old fashioned with wooden balconies on the exterior.
The property has undergone extensive works, completely transforming the internal space and outer facade. Internally, the rooms were taken back to brick, leaving only the structure, window frames and the parquet flooring which the client and the architect wanted to keep, in order to retain some of the building’s original character. Each room was carefully refurbished and updated, with the outer structure remodelled to fit the 1930’s Art Deco aesthetic of the client’s brief. The wooden balconies were replaced with new concrete and the previously sharp corners were rounded to give the building a more Art Deco silhouette. The original roof was removed to make room for make another floor which includes a games room and bar.
Jerry told PREMIER CONSTRUCTION CHANNEL ISLANDS: “Even though the client wanted the house to appear 1930’s in style, we still had to try and fit all the new mod cons which was a challenge. We were trying to fit modern electrical equipment like sound systems and LED lights into a space with old 1970’s wiring. We had to adapt things and make it work. Things took slightly longer than we anticipated but we were happy with the final product.”
Inside the villa each room has been designed differently by interior designer Fisher ID, each room has its own unique character. A lot of the fittings were individually chosen and shipped over from Italy. This presented K-LAND with a huge, never before faced challenge, the Brexit and the supply chain issues which plagued the industry throughout 2020. This coupled with working on the site throughout the Covid-19 pandemic makes the final product all the more impressive.
Karen described the challenges this proposed: “We won the tender for Villa Capri just before we went into lockdown, so right from the beginning of the project we have been faced with Covid issues. In early 2020 all construction sites in Jersey were forced to close; the only exception to this was if the property was empty. Fortunately for us that was the case with Villa Capri, the client had bought the property and wanted to move in to a finished product. We were lucky as this enabled us to apply for a permit to keep the site open, but for the first month we were only allowed to have two people on site which slowed operations down for a short while.”
She continued: “It’s a really exquisite house with lots of small details and furnishings and fittings which we managed to import from abroad despite the logistical challenges. The project was exciting for us but was also a good opportunity to test our operations and see if we could manage these new and different challenges. We are proud that we managed to complete the project to a really high standard at a time when these issues were affecting the whole world.”
K-LAND specialise in residentail conversions and extensions, Sayda and Rougemont are two projects which although within the realm of KLAND’s speciality, are both very different.
Sayda is an ultra modern kitchen extension, with bi-folding doors which open out onto a landscaping area. One of the projects most striking features is its large overhang which is accentuated by LED lights.
Jerry described the works undertaken on Sayda: “The architect wanted to use all brand new materials for this project, including untreated timber cladding for the exterior and Ecotone for the cement polished floors. Sayda is a fantastic extension, it looks so modern that it is almost futuristic.
Rougemont is another K-LAND project which pushes the boundaries of residential extension possibilities. The client wanted the extension to appear to be sunk into the ground, to achieve this, 350 tonnes of soil had to be excavated in order to make way for the works. The soil was then returned to create the illusion that the extension is underground. This created the project’s own unique challenges such as propping up retaining walls so that the extension will withstand the pressure from the soil over time.
Karen described what completing these projects means to her: “Just to get these projects over the line is a huge achievement, everyone has really just pulled together to get the job done. At K-LAND we are a small team, we’re not a family but we act like one. We all work together and support each other, and I think that’s what makes us successful.”
The post K-Land Construction appeared first on Premier Construction News.