Working with leading construction group, Thomas Vale, and end client
The Abbeyfield Society, our multi-disciplinary team provided
infrastructure, civil and structural engineering services for the design
and build of a new care home facility in Worcester. This development is
the county’s first not-for-profit retirement community.
The
Abbeyfield Society is a global charity providing housing, support
and care for people at different stages of later life. The Society
wanted to provide high-quality, community-focused retirement living for
the over 55s in Worcester.
This residential development is
located within walking distance of Worcester town centre and comprises
37 retirement apartments spread over three-storeys, with a central
communal space, activity rooms, restaurant and a health and beauty
suite.
The home was built using a combination of load bearing
masonry and structural steelwork. A steel transfer level was provided at
the first floor to facilitate the ground floor communal areas. Due to
the overall height restriction imposed by the local planning authority
we used Tata Slimflor beams in the transfer level, keeping the
structural zones to an absolute minimum.
The building is located
within an existing, narrow, residential road and surrounded by adjacent
terrace houses, which were approximately 70 years old. We supported our
client by exploring a range of solutions to determine how to safely
erect the new structure given the challenges of this specific area,
whilst maintaining the proposed schedule for completion.
One of
the main issues was that, due to access, the crane size had to
be limited. This also meant that the crane would not be able to reach
across the whole building footprint from one single position. There were
also very few positions where the crane could be located and all of
those would mean that the crane would effectively be “built in” as the
structure was erected with no way to remove it.
Various solutions
were considered to overcome these issues, including, changing the
construction to more expensive methods. In the end it was decided that
the structure would be built in sections allowing the crane to move
around the site. This meant that the temporary stability of
the structure had to be considered and the contractor was advised which
sections could be built and to what level before adjacent sections would
need to be constructed. However, the issue of “building the crane in”
could not be overcome, but a solution was devised that allowed for part
of the structure at low level to be left out, this allowed space for the
crane to be removed and the area completed afterwards.
The new
facility opened in March 2016 and was short-listed for the West Midlands
Regional Institution of Structural Engineers award.
Abbeyfield care home, Worcester
Civil and structural engineering delivered to support the development of a new Abbeyfield care home providing 37 apartments.
