Glatthaar Keller Delivers a Firm Foundation in Cambridge – A Client Story

Glatthaar Keller together with their ground works partner deliver the Ground Bearing Slab for this exciting eco home project. Listen to the client Munish Datta explain his experience of the Project.

For years, this project existed as drawings, discussions and determination, so when the groundworks began in earnest on 9 February, it took me by surprise even though it had been planned for a long time. Suddenly, after decades of thinking and two years of formal design, there was a spade in the ground and the project felt undeniably real. The pace of progress was striking.  Old sheds disappeared in minutes, historic bunkers were filled, unknown water tanks were uncovered and dealt with, and services were coordinated quickly. Groundworkers are often unseen in the wider story of a build, but I now understand just how critical their contribution is, because everything that follows depends on the quality, accuracy and resilience of this stage.  Glatthaar Keller played a pivotal role in delivering the slab stage that transformed the project from lines in the ground into something spatial and tangible. Before the slab, the foundations looked strangely small, almost like a flat diagram rather than a future home. Once the ground-bearing slab and the first level by Glatthaar Keller were in place, the house began to make sense in three dimensions and we could finally understand the scale of the rooms, the relationship to the garden and the wider setting. The process was not without issues a gas supply was accidentally knocked out, asbestos removal on the old garage became more complex than expected, and the planned sewer connection proved impossible at the original point, creating extra work and cost. However, each issue was resolved through a fast response, practical problem-solving and continued progress on site. My view on price also changed through the process. I had been advised that groundworks could account for around a third of the total build cost and this is broadly true, but it is only when you see the access road, service runs, excavations and slab formation unfold that you truly understand why. Even with unexpected extras, the value of this work is unmistakable. Above all, the slab carries more than structure for me: when the concrete was still drying, I wrote my father’s name into it, because although I am delivering the project, it remains profoundly rooted in his vision.