The rumble of a train as it comes down the track is a disconcerting feeling, so imagine it literally being under your feet. Residents of Royal Mint Gardens in London have trains beneath their building, but careful planning and design have made the rumble imperceptible.

Developed by IJM Land Bhd, Royal Mint Gardens has proven itself with its innovative design, placemaking efforts, and strong performance. Thus, it was awarded the 2023 The Edge Malaysia Property Excellence Award for Outstanding Overseas Project.

Building Royal Mint Gardens was no easy task. IJM Land CEO Datuk Wong Tuck Wai says, “When IJM Land first assessed and appraised this site, there were a lot of challenges in place. The fact that the project is adjacent to the railway line made it difficult, especially with the condition to keep the lines operational  as we were building over railway lines.

“It was something that had not been attempted before by IJM Land. It takes a lot of courage, fortitude, and foresight to think that it can be done.

“Things were put in place to build over the railway line. We did an encapsulation and built on top of it with the prerequisite safety measures in place.

“And it came to fruition and it sold. It validated the foresight of those involved and the management then, who really could see and visualize what could be done and deliver it.

“That Royal Mint Gardens is sold out has put us on a very good standing to be a front-runner in prospecting for future developments on land parcels that are adjacent to railway lines,” he adds.

The project was brought to IJM Land through the director of its subsidiary, RMS (England) Ltd, Mark Lahiff, who has been involved with IJM Land for more than 12 years.

“IJM Land acquired the site in 2012. The site had planning consent in place, and the first thing we had to do was change the planning consent so that it was more suitable for modern living standards,” says Lahiff.

Like Wong, Lahiff recalls the challenges that needed to be overcome. “We had to deal with noise and vibration. We had to work very closely with the people — the asset protection team — to protect the railway. We had to make sure that our contractors were experienced in working alongside or over railway lines.”

Lahiff adds that they needed to plan construction works along the site, which had 15 Victorian railway arches, and even discovered redundant basements on the site. This required reinforcements to be done so that heavy machinery could be brought in. There were also historical finds — coins and clay pipes — that required the authorities to investigate and take away before construction could continue.

“We had to run a very tight program because if you were working above the railway, you only had a very short window called engineering hours. It basically means you can work for two or three hours during the night. Any meaningful work had to take place in what they call a possession — when you stop the trains from running completely. Now, we didn’t want to do that; it’s very, very expensive. So, we were aware that they had some closures at Christmas, at Easter. And what we had to do was program our work so that everything was brought up to a certain point and then when we had possession, everyone was on site working during these short windows,” he says.

Other methods to ensure safety for the workers and prevent any train stoppages included sewing up pockets to make sure nothing was dropped on the tracks and installing 1,000 prism devices to monitor any movements on the site.

“As a result of the noise and vibration from the trains, we had to install isolation bearings in our structure. The isolation bearings remove any movement. And the building had to be designed in such a way that no noise or very little noise would be disturbing our buyers. It was a big factor for us,” says Lahiff.

If that was not enough, they also had to ensure cladding panels — 2,000 in total — were carefully installed on the building while the trains were running.

“So for every part of construction, we had to think about safety at all times. We even had someone standing a quarter of a mile away from the building so that we could radio them if there ever was an issue so that the trains could be stopped. But we never had to do that.”The rumble of a train as it comes down the track is a disconcerting feeling. So, imagine it literally being under your feet. Residents of Royal Mint Gardens in London have trains beneath their building, but careful planning and design have made the rumble imperceptible.

Developed by IJM Land Bhd, Royal Mint Gardens has proven itself with its innovative design, placemaking efforts, and strong performance. Thus, it is awarded the 2023 The Edge Malaysia Property Excellence Award for Outstanding Overseas Project.

Building Royal Mint Gardens was no easy task. IJM Land CEO Datuk Wong Tuck Wai says, “When IJM Land first assessed and appraised this site, there were a lot of challenges in place. The fact that the project is adjacent to the railway line made it difficult, especially with the condition to keep the lines operational, and safety was also a concern as we were building over railway lines.

“It was something that had not been attempted before. Whether it was attempted by others, we don’t think so, but certainly it was never attempted by IJM Land. It takes a lot of courage, fortitude, and foresight to think that it can be done.

“Things were put in place to build over the railway line. We did an encapsulation and built on top of it with the prerequisite safety measures in place.

“And it came to fruition and it sold. It validated the foresight of those involved and the management then, who really could see and visualize what could be done and deliver it.

“That Royal Mint Gardens is sold out has put us on a very good standing to be a front-runner in prospecting for future developments on land parcels that are adjacent to railway lines,” he adds.

The project was brought to IJM Land through the director of its subsidiary, RMS (England) Ltd, Mark Lahiff, who has been involved with IJM Land for more than 12 years.

“IJM Land acquired the site in 2012. The site had planning consent in place, and the first thing we had to do was change the planning consent so that it was more suitable for modern living standards,” says Lahiff.

Like Wong, Lahiff recalls the challenges that needed to be overcome. “We had to deal with noise and vibration. We had to work very closely with the people — the asset protection team — to protect the railway. We had to make sure that our contractors were experienced in working alongside or over railway lines.”

Lahiff adds that they needed to plan construction works along the site, which had 15 Victorian railway arches, and even discovered redundant basements on the site. This required reinforcements to be done so that heavy machinery could be brought in. There were also historical finds — coins and clay pipes — that required the authorities to investigate and take away before construction could continue.

“We had to run a very tight program because if you were working above the railway, you only had a very short window called engineering hours. It basically means you can work for two or three hours during the night. Any meaningful work had to take place in what they call a possession — when you stop the trains from running completely. Now, we didn’t want to do that; it’s very, very expensive. So, we were aware that they had some closures at Christmas, at Easter. And what we had to do was program our work so that everything was brought up to a certain point and then when we had possession, everyone was on site working during these short windows,” he says.

Other methods to ensure safety for the workers and prevent any train stoppages included sewing up pockets to make sure nothing was dropped on the tracks and installing 1,000 prism devices to monitor any movements on the site.

“As a result of the noise and vibration from the trains, we had to install isolation bearings in our structure. The isolation bearings remove any movement. And the building had to be designed in such a way that no noise or very little noise would be disturbing our buyers. It was a big factor for us,” says Lahiff.

If that was not enough, they also had to ensure cladding panels — 2,000 in total — were carefully installed on the building while the trains were running.

“So for every part of construction, we had to think about safety at all times. We even had someone standing a quarter of a mile away from the building so that we could radio them if there ever was an issue so that the trains could be stopped. But we never had to do that.”