Central City living has a new home

New residential complex at 33 Church Street adds variety and quality to the roster of city-dwelling choices

The centre of Hamilton is fast becoming a viable option for people to live. A new 8-storey building on the site of the former Reid House on Church Street, boasts a total of 60,000 sq. ft. and features a variety of units from studio apartments to 2-storey penthouses, ranging in size from 450 sq. ft. to 4,400 sq. ft.

Despite the level of variety, Sabrina Phillips, a director of the development company, explains that the units share some common design features that residents will find attractive.

“We focused on maximising the use of the building area, followed by ensuring that each unit is designed with lots of light and privacy,” she says. “All the units have an open plan kitchen and living room design. By city living standards, the rooms are larger than what is typically found. The bathrooms are also quite comfortable in size, the bedrooms are larger than most within the city and most units have large walk-in closets. Each unit also has a private outdoor patio area that is not visible from another unit.”

Of course, all projects come with some level of challenge and building in Hamilton can add another layer to that. 33 Church Street spans two lots, one of which had an existing 6-storey building that needed to be demolished before construction could begin. This was further complicated by the site’s adjacency to the iconic, 200-year-old Anglican Cathedral and its attached electrical sub-station.

“Under the direction of our onsite project manager, we were able to demolish the building without incident,” says Ms. Phillips. “Construction within the City is always a challenge, given the lot sizes and limited area for construction equipment. We have worked closely with the City of Hamilton’s operations manager, Mr. Somner, to minimise disruption to the traffic and pedestrian flow in the area.”

Ms. Phillips also explains that they were able to retain significant boundary walls from the demolished building, which served well in minimising any excavation. The building is constructed of structural steel, concrete floor slabs and cement block. The footages of the building are a combination of steel footings embedded in concrete and concrete footings with significant amounts of reinforced steel rod.

“We are very pleased with the structural design of the building by Entech Limited’s Dave Ramrattan and Vanessa Turner,” says Ms. Phillips. “The building is designed with a central steel frame that is tied together with a typical concrete block structure on the north and south ends of the building.”

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Building designers, CTX Design, implemented many architectural features that “give the building a soft inviting feeling”. The building’s exterior design is contemporary and intended to mask the size of the building which is set back from the southern boundary on Church Street.

“When viewing the buildings northern and southern elevations, the building appears to be built to the extreme east and western boundaries, however the central area of the building is set back from the boundaries on the east and west by about 15 feet on each side,” explains Ms. Phillips. “This provides a degree of privacy for the units.”

All units will have private outdoor covered spaces and all windows and doors will be double glazed hurricane grade, low E glass. Water is provided by two tanks on site. One with potable water and another that collects grey water and serves as the fire tank to supply the building’s sprinkler system. In addition, there is piped water supplied to the building by Bermuda Waterworks.

“Any building over 4-storeys is required to have a fire pump,” she says.

“You want to have a guaranteed supply of water for the fire system because if your water tank is low and you have a fire it doesn’t help you. We are making use of the run-off water from the roofs and the patios to store in a fire tank which fills up quickly.”

33 Church Street will also feature several communal amenities including secure parking, a residents-only gym, a relaxing common room/games room, a roof top patio, and an outdoor private garden area. There will also be commercial space on the property, presently scheduled to house a retail store, a spa and full-service hair salon.

“The only planning requirement was for private patio space for each unit,” says Ms. Phillips. “We have added space for these additional services to benefit the residents and as an attraction to residents.”

Ms. Phillips says the project is scheduled to be completed by the Spring of 2024 and that the building is likely to attract business travelers and executives looking to live and work in the City.

“The idea of city living is that you’re close enough to anything that you need and then, right on site, we have included these additional services.”

Key Contractors

• Benson Steel

• BUE

• Mass Ltd

• Otis Bermuda

• Pimental’s Crane Services

• SAL Trading Limited

• Telford Electric

Our Services:

• Aluminum, Stainless and Carbon Steel Metal Sales

• Welding and Fabrication

• Machining Services

• Mobile Welding Services

• Bow Rail and T-Top Fabrication and Repair

• Metal Gates and Railings

• Welding Supplies and Consumables Sales

• Welding Machine Sales and Repair

We are proud to be involved with 33 Church, St. George’s Club, a Tucker’s Town home and The St. Regis Bermuda Resort projects.