35 Case study 7 Park Heights, London Contributed by Steven Busbey Wates Living Space steven.busbey@wates.co.uk Name of project: Park Heights (former Waylands House) Town or city: Stockwell, South London Brief description: Demolition of an existing 15 storey tower block and replacement with a 20 storey residential block, including a café facility. A total of 159 apartments consisting of 84 affordable and 75 private sales. External works include car parking and soft landscaped areas. Designed to Code Level 4 & Lifetime Homes. Total cost: £27.4m Average cost per unit: £172,000 Principal partners: Network Housing Group (client), Wates Living Space (main contractor),GCL (frame contractor), Conisbee(engineer), Oran Pre-cast (manufacturer) Completion: December 2015 Length of time to build (from start on site ): 100 weeks Estimated length of time to build if using traditional methods (from start on site ): 106 weeks Briefl y describe the construction method Offsite manufactured precast concrete frame elements, comprised pre-cast reinforced concrete structural columns, along with twin-wall core-walls and lift shafts were incorporated into a post-tensioned fl at-slab reinforced concrete frame to expedite the construction of the superstructure. The twin-wall system consists of two 65mm thick concrete leafs joined together by steel, lattice reinforcement to form a structural panel. Once the panel is positioned on site, it is fi lled with poured concrete. Why was this method chosen? Mainly to expedite the construction of the reinforced concrete frame through reduced Man hours, faster on-site construction times and reduced site labour and materials. It also allowed for high quality fi nish and control. How did costs compare with traditional methods? When assessed holistically and, whilst also taking into consideration the reduced labour, falsework and programme and prelims savings, this method was considered more cost effective than a traditional approach. Would you use this method again? Yes What are your reasons? Because of the benefi ts mentioned above Were there any diffi culties with the method chosen? No diffi culties but it does require a design input from the specialist via the reinforced concrete frame contractor which brings with it a need for good design management/ coordination Were there any additional/ unusual approvals needed and what were they? No unusual approvals. A review of the manufacturer’s design and calculations was undertaken by our structural engineer and a co-ordination review exercise was undertaken by our architect which would be the standard approach with any contractor design package.
38 Publizr Home