Commercial interiors, built properly.
Office, retail and hospitality fit-outs, Cat A and Cat B, design and build, M&E, reinstatement and certified fire door installation. Every project delivered on programme by one team, from first survey to handover.
Recent projects
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A Victorian steam-powered colour works built for Winsor & Newton, later Spring Studios, now a 45,000 sq ft daylight studio complex. We fitted out the building floor by floor and renewed its roof.
- RoofTwelve new factory-made timber roof lanterns in five types replaced the existing rooflights: double glazed with a toughened outer and laminated inner pane, trickle vents for background ventilation, new timber upstands, lead ridge and top caps and lead skirtings to every upstand, each unit water-tested and the ceilings beneath made good.
- DecorationWalls and ceilings stripped, made good and repainted; the original skirtings, architraves, doors and cornices retained, repaired and repainted. Little Greene Hammock, Roman Plaster, Mushroom and Hollyhock, PPG Bermuda Sand to the brick stair core, Farrow & Ball Railings to the doors and Lamp Room Gray masonry paint to the stair floors and treads.
- FloorsKarndean Korlok Antique French Oak to the office block, green room, tea point and hair-and-make-up rooms; stone-effect porcelain to the common bathrooms; black mosaic to the office-block bathrooms; timber floors stained, sanded and sealed elsewhere.
- BathroomsFive common bathrooms and the accessible WC refitted: walnut-stained oak vanities with undermount basins, brushed-bronze brassware, large-format mirrors with blackened edges, matt white kit-kat mosaic to dado height and metro tiling to the office-block bathrooms. Below-ground drainage to the accessible WC repaired.
- Joinery and tea pointsWalnut veneer panelling to the dressing-room glazing, new D-handles and ironmongery, and three tea points: walnut with quartz, matt white with oak and a Butler sink, and quartz to the second floor. Curtains to the first-floor lounge.
- Lighting and electricalTrack lighting to the entry, corridor, stair core and offices; brass sconces to the stair and bathrooms; sensor and emergency bulkheads; alabaster wall lights, pendants and a timber chandelier to the dressing rooms.
- HandoverMastic, builders' clean and snagging worked through floor by floor, with the stair-core scaffold struck at the end.
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A two-storey SCOLA system-built block from the early 1970s, taken out of use on fire-safety grounds. We stripped it back to its steel frame and rebuilt it as a modern teaching block with new provision for pupils with special educational needs, on a live school site.
- Strip-out and rebuildThe building taken back to its structural shell and the interior rebuilt completely across both floors: nine classrooms, a new library, group rooms, offices, staff facilities and WCs.
- Fire suppressionA commercial-grade automatic water-mist suppression system throughout, fed from a dedicated external tank and pump house.
- CompartmentationFire-rated enclosures to the stair cores and hazard rooms, cavity barriers in the ceiling voids and detailed fire-stopping to the SCOLA frame, all built to tested, certified details. The original polystyrene cavity insulation replaced with a fire-rated alternative.
- ServicesNew MVHR ventilation, an L1 fire alarm and detection system and new emergency lighting.
- Sign-offCoordinated with the fire engineer and signed off through Building Control and the Fire and Rescue Service.
- Live siteProgrammed around the school timetable and GCSE exams, keeping pupils and staff protected while the works kept moving.
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A full fit-out of the fourth floor of a Mayfair building, with the loft above converted, a walk-on skylight installed and a new terrace formed.
- Fourth floorFull fit-out of the floor from strip-out to finishes.
- Loft conversionThe loft above opened up and converted, adding a further storey of usable space.
- Walk-on skylightA walk-on skylight installed, letting daylight into the space beneath.
- TerraceA new terrace formed at roof level.
Leyton Orient Football Club
Fit-outLeyton, London E10Springfield House
Fit-outLondon
Open a project for the brief. Drawings, photographs and client references are available on request. Request the full project list
From a single shopfront to a full office floor
Offices
Cat A and Cat B fit-outs, from bare shell to working floor.
Cat A: raised floors, ceilings, lighting, heating and cooling, fire detection · Cat B: partitions and glazing, meeting rooms, tea points, joinery, flooring, furniture and data
Retail
Shopfronts, joinery, lighting and displays, often built out of hours.
Shopfronts and glazing · counters and display joinery · feature lighting · flooring and decoration · stockrooms and back of house · phased and out-of-hours programmes
Hospitality
Restaurants, bars and hotels, including commercial kitchens and extraction.
Bars, counters and fixed seating · commercial kitchens and extraction · ventilation and cooling · WCs and finishes · acoustic treatment
Design and build
One contract and one point of contact, from layouts to handover.
Survey and brief · space planning and layouts · specification and finishes · cost plan and programme · building control and landlord approvals · build and handover
M&E
Power, lighting, data, heating, cooling and ventilation, coordinated with the build.
Distribution and small power · lighting and emergency lighting · data and AV containment · heating, cooling and ventilation · fire alarm and detection · testing and certification
Reinstatement
Strip-out and dilapidations at the end of a lease, to the landlord's specification.
Strip-out of tenant alterations · making good to Cat A · services reinstated and tested · agreed with the landlord's surveyor against the lease and schedule of condition
Fire doors
Installation under the BM TRADA Q-Mark scheme, certified and recorded.
Door sets, frames and ironmongery · intumescent seals and closers · inspection and labelling · certificates for building control and the responsible person
Five steps, one team
- 01 · Survey
We measure the space and read the lease, the plans and the landlord's requirements before we price anything.
- 02 · Proposal
A priced scope, a programme you can hold us to, and the drawings and specification to match.
- 03 · Approvals
Building control, the landlord's licence for alterations and the fire strategy agreed before work starts.
- 04 · Build
The people who priced the job run it on site, with one point of contact from first day to last.
- 05 · Handover
Snagged, tested and certified, with the as-built drawings, certificates and warranties handed over on the agreed date.
Small on purpose
One team from first survey to handover. The people who price your job are the people who run it on site.
The name comes from Donostia, the Basque city most people know as San Sebastián, where old buildings are constantly reworked for new uses. That is most of what we do, from our base on Smeed Road in Hackney Wick, across London and Greater London.
Design, M&E, joinery and building control are coordinated by us, with trades we have worked with for years. We agree a programme at the start and hand over on that date.
- Certification
- BM TRADA Q-Mark, fire door installation
- Head office
- 75 Smeed Road, Hackney Wick, London E3 2NE
- Working across
- London and Greater London
- Working for
- Landlords and managing agents, occupiers, developers, and the architects and designers who work with them
Proud to sponsor Leyton Orient Football Club.
Our local club, a few miles up the road from Hackney Wick. Up the O's.
The people you'll deal with
- Ned BlanchDirectorned@donostia.uk
- Mark CampionDirectormark@donostia.uk
- Harry CampionBusiness Development Managerharry@donostia.uk
- Bayo Shodunke MRICSQuantity Surveyorbayo@donostia.uk
- Shane TeggartProject Managershane@donostia.uk
- Mark ProwseProject Managermark.p@donostia.uk
- Gillian WheelerAccountsaccounts@donostia.uk
Tell us about the space.
ned@donostia.uk75 Smeed Road, Hackney Wick, London E3 2NE
A floor plan, the square footage and the date you need to be in is plenty to start. We'll come back within two working days to arrange a site visit.