CHECKING OUT ASDA’S NEWEST STORES

Working in conjunction with Scottish project managers, CBES, GEM completed work projects for four ASDA store refurbishments over a four-month period. Starting with the supermarket’s Portlethen store in Aberdeen, GEM fulfilled a ten-week major refurbishment which included fitting flooring, ceilings and partitions as well as store decoration such as painting and spraying and fitting hygienic wall cladding and ceramic walling to areas such as the deli and bakery counters.

In order to complete on time and on budget, with minimum disruption to the store’s trading, the team at GEM carried out all work at night, ceasing site work at 5am to allow for a site meeting to check for snagging issues and sign the store back to the client to resume trading for 6am. Working with a market-leading retailer such as ASDA, which has hundreds of stores across the UK, GEM had to meet concise client brand specifications and work with approved suppliers.

The project required logistical management to overcome the challenge of minimal on-site storage of equipment and materials. GEM’s flexible ways of working also enabled the delivery of unexpected design changes without any impact on the final completion date. GEM also completed a similar refurbishment project for Asda’s Newtownards store over a ten-week period and two smaller store projects in Coleraine and Belfast’s Westwood Centre.

Commenting on the efficiency of the GEM team, Andy Lynn, Senior Project Manager at CBES, said “We were delighted with the work delivered by GEM who helped to make the refurbishment process seamless and extremely professional. They were highly re-active to any required changes to the project and always willing to accommodate any additional requirement, above and beyond the initial brief.”