Archetech Issue 50 2020 | Page 19

“ Though Kohler introduced us to products that are at the forefront of design and technology. KOHLER Kohler is a global brand with close to a 150 year history, it maintains the focused, client-driven customer service of a family-owned company. Experience, expertise and service have helped Kohler form large-scale partnerships to create best-inclass developments across the world. Once complete, 55,000 KOHLER® products will be in bathrooms and kitchens across Wembley Park. Among those products, Quintain relied on the Kohler team’s insight for which would best suit the design intent, functionality and specific budget for each residential project. “Kohler introduced us to products that are at the forefront of design and technology,” says Mary Kelly-Mannion. “They worked hard to ensure that we have the best products for our development at the most competitive prices. We could also see that Kohler continues to develop and innovate.” MAKING CONNECTIONS To help realize Wembley Park’s residences with those goals in mind, Quintain selected a key strategic partner: Kohler Co., a global pioneer in the design and innovation of kitchen and bath products and one of the largest manufacturers of power systems in the world. “We sought a company which has the range and quality of product that enables us to deliver a different impression across each of our individual projects as each has its own unique designs within the overall development,” says Mary Kelly-Mannion, head of cost management and procurement at Quintain. “Partnerships start with people. We want to work with people who are experts in their field, who work collaboratively and who can provide us with the best solutions for our needs.” Kohler is particularly positioned for this level and scale of collaboration. The reach of its products across the globe and the partnerships Kohler fosters continue to bolster the company’s longstanding reputation for quality among developers, designers and consumers alike. Beyond scale was the challenge of the project’s speed. A residential build on this scale would typically require about seven years to complete. Many of Wembley Park’s residences will be completed in a much shorter timeframe. Accomplishing accelerated timeframes like these depends on a carefully planned and executed production process. A thousand miles (1600 km) southeast of Wembley Park, electricians, plumbers and Italian artisan tilers work in a warehouse with dozens of rows of room-sized steel-framed cubes. This is the production line at Bathsystem, a bathroom pod manufacturing facility in Verona, Italy, and one of two pod manufacturers for Wembley Park. Walker Modular, located in Hull on the east coast of England, is the other. Prefabricated bathroom pods are a critical piece in project speed because they allow various phases of building to happen concurrently and minimize on-site operatives, with complete rooms shipped in and installed, like a puzzle, into the rest of the residence. PAGE 19 - ARCHETECH