Full Electrical Rewire — Belgravia Apartment Renovation

Full renovations of Belgravia apartments are projects where every trade is scrutinised and every finish must be exceptional. The electrical installation is the infrastructure that everything else depends on — and it is also the trade that creates the most dust, the most disruption, and the most potential for damage to finishes that have not yet been installed but will be installed over the electrical work.

This project was a complete renovation of a 1,800 sq ft lateral apartment on Eaton Place. The client — an interior designer herself — had specified a full electrical rewire with smart lighting control (Lutron HomeWorks QSX), a dedicated AV rack in a purpose-built media room, Cat 6A network backbone to every room, and a future-proofed consumer unit with capacity for EV charging in the allocated parking space. The existing installation was a 30-year-old radial system with no earth bonding, insufficient circuit separation, and T&E cables running in inaccessible routes.

The brief from the main contractor was specific: the electrical first fix needed to be completed within an eight-day window between demolition and plastering, coordinated with the data cabling contractor and the smart home integrator, and carried out with a level of site protection that would allow the partially completed finishes in adjacent areas to remain undamaged. The client had been on projects before where electricians had left cable cuttings in wall cavities, drilled through water pipes, and left dust on every surface. She was very clear: that was not going to happen here.

RARE's involvement began at design stage — three months before the first cable was run. A full electrical design was produced: circuit layout, load calculations, cable sizing, smart lighting control architecture, and a coordinated first-fix programme that integrated with the main contractor's schedule. Every cable route was planned before any chasing began, with RARE's engineer walking the site with the main contractor to confirm wall penetrations, floor void routes, and ceiling drop locations.

The eight-day installation began with site protection — and this is where RARE's approach differs from most electrical contractors. Before any tools came out, the entire apartment was protected: heavy-duty dust sheets on all floors, protective film on all window reveals, cardboard protection on all skirting and architrave, and dust extraction equipment set up at every chase point. A HEPA-filtered dust extractor was used for all chasing and drilling, with the extraction nozzle held at the tool point throughout. The client walked through the apartment at the end of day one and commented that there was less dust than she had seen after a single morning of demolition by the previous contractor.

The first fix was completed over five days: all chasing, all cable runs, all back boxes, all floor void routes, and the Cat 6A network backbone. RARE coordinated with the Lutron integrator on the smart lighting control wiring, ensuring all switch locations, dimming circuits, and keypad positions were confirmed before plastering. The consumer unit was a 3-row Hager board with individual RCBOs for every circuit, a Type 2 SPD, and a dedicated 32A EV-ready way.

The second fix was completed over three days after plastering and decoration: all socket fronts, switch plates, Lutron keypads, and the full AV rack termination. A full EICR was carried out on completion, with every circuit tested and certified. The client received a complete documentation pack: circuit schedules, load calculations, EICR certificate, Lutron programming documentation, and a full set of as-installed drawings for future reference.