Kitchen worktops in Imperial Wharf

Yes. Entirely purpose-built apartment stock with kitchens planned as part of the living space, generally a 3-3.4m run against the service wall plus an island or peninsula of 2-2.4m, sitting over a fixed riser. The frequent job now is replacing the original 2000s granite or composite with lighter large-format quartz or sintered stone, matching existing cut-outs so the plumbing does not move. Underground loading has a height restriction, and a van with an A-frame on it is taller than the driver remembers. We aim for the first slot of the day where parking is tight, because that is when the street is emptiest. We would rather ask than guess.

2000s riverside apartment tower, podium-deck apartment block, modern townhouse and mixed-use block over a landscaped estate. These buildings have firm rules about what can be propped open, left in a lobby or carried through the residents entrance. We work to the internal depth of the car and the diagonal you can actually stand a piece up on with the doors closed, then nest to that, which routinely turns a two-piece kitchen into a three-piece one with an extra join over a gable. Every join over a gable, clear of every cut-out.

Gated estate with a security barrier, contractor registration, a designated loading bay and a goods lift that must be booked and lined before use, plus estate rules on working hours. From the lift lobby the route to the flat is a long carpeted corridor across a podium, so floor protection is mandatory and the trolley run is significant. The barrier, the entry code and the estate rules decide when a van can get near the door, and none of that is negotiable on the day. So the nesting is worked to the measured route first and to the slab second. Once the cut-outs are machined there is no going back on it.

Worktop replacement, worktop installation and worktop fabrication, in that order. Developer-fitted kitchens come with thin cam-lock carcasses, which are fine under laminate and want bracing before stone goes on them. Where the window is fixed there is no second day to fall back on, so the prep list matters more than usual. Sealed before we leave. Sintered stone and thin porcelain are the usual upgrade here, and those need a rigid transport frame and a full set of suction lifters - they do not forgive being flexed on a long corridor carry.

Galley runs are usually short enough to come out of a single slab, so the material band you choose does more to the total than the room shape does. Going from a 38mm laminate to 20mm or 30mm stone drops the surface, which shows against tiles, a window board and any freestanding appliance. Carcasses have to be sound first. A boxed soil stack or service riser in the corner of a run eats into the worktop depth and has to be scribed around rather than cut square. We would rather find it at template than on the morning, which is why the templater looks behind the units. It is the usual surprise, and it is a known one. Material runs from £110 per square metre supply only, and templating, fabrication and fitting are quoted on their own lines rather than rolled into one figure.

Mixed ownership means the decision-maker is not always the person who lets us in, so it is worth being clear early about who signs the quote off. A half-day of access is not a fitting day, and it is better to say so at booking than to find out at eleven. Access for the whole slot, or a different day. Tell us the building when you book and the lift, the stair turn and any freeholder notice get built into the day rather than found on it.