A large new commercial space for a repeat client to provide office and teaching space for their staff. The project cleverly used a small space on their existing campus but more prominently by designing 50% of the space below ground.

The existing land was a low lying swamp with very high concentration of ground water, which presented extremely challenging conditions for the duration of the project.

Due to the poor ground, the basement was supported off CFA piles 20m deep and constructed of a reinforced concrete raft and retaining walls. The waterproofing strategy combined with gas protection and was, therefore a dual layered system combining waterproof concrete and a externally laid membrane which adhered to the concrete.

For the superstructure the design specified a modern method of construction through the use of prefabricated SIPS panels. Delivered in partnership with our Kingspan delivery partner, the external walls, first floor and roof were designed and fabricated off site and craned into position in sections, benefiting the construction programme on site but also ensuring the sustainable requirements for the project were achieved.

Timber continued to dominate the materials specified for the build, including the external sweet chestnut cladding with an unusual twist of being installed hit and miss vertically but with a range of sizes.

Internally a full fit out of audit rooms, teaching spaces and offices were constructed including two new plant rooms, one being situated in the loft space nearly 80% of the building. Within here a large air handling unit was installed to serve the ventilation, heating and air conditioning systems within the building.