*** Serious warning ***
The Barbican has always been a unique place, with peculiarities any builder working here needed to know about. But now, after the Grenfell Tower catastrophe, the City have tougher requirements for new works, and come down hard on failure to comply. It can cost you a lot of money to have to redo work done incorrectly by someone who doesn’t know the pitfalls. Use someone familiar with the Barbican Estate. 

The expression ‘refurbishment’ in the Barbican estate can mean a whole gamut of building projects from just replacing a kitchen or bathroom up to stripping out and renovating the entire flat.

Thomson Brothers | www.thomsonbrothers.co.uk

Thomson Brothers have been refurbishing and modernising Barbican flats since 1989. The company was set up by Luke Thomson, who lives in the Barbican himself. Thomson Brothers provide a complete design, manufacture, installation and project management service for Barbican interior refurbishments.

Golden Hands Bespoke Refurbishments Ltd | 07809 220035 | wojtekmikucki@hotmail.co.uk

Wojtek (pronounced Voy-tek) worked for Thomson Brothers for 9 years, and has had his own business for the last four years. He has a team of reliable workmen and they all understand how the Barbican works. Golden Hands does bespoke furniture, kitchens, bathrooms, flooring, decorating – everything basically – and they also work with the regular electricians and plumbers.

Doranlink & Co Ltd | 07768 311277 | terry.coull@yahoo.co.uk

Terry Coull, who owns this business, has over 25 years’ experience on the Estate. I don’t know him personally, but I am told by those who do that Terry Coull is a reliable and highly experienced tradesman. He can carry out jobs ranging from small linoleum repairs up to full kitchen installations, and one of his specialities is bathroom regrouting work.

G & D Brothers Builders Ltd | 07515 534462 | www.gdbrothersbuilders.com

The business was set up in 2005 and is owned and run by Darek Owczarek. Darek helped me with some emergency plumbing work when my shower went wrong many years ago, and has also done carpentry work in my flat. He was doing full-scale Barbican refurbishments at one time, but I believe he is looking for a slightly quieter life at the moment, and therefore looking for smaller projects.