Composite completes 4-storey car park and supermarket for Waitrose adjacent to busy railway line.
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Architect:
Michael Aukett
Engineer:
Waterman Partnership
Quantity Surveyor:
EC Harris
Contractor:
Kier Southern
Client:
John Lewis Partnership
Four-storey, 544-space precast concrete car park
Most complex contract undertaken to date
Constricted site requiring careful management
London Underground stringent requirements
Steel-framed Waitrose store at high level
Following our successful contract at Cobham for Waitrose
, part of John Lewis plc, we were invited to work with their design team in the development of a precast concrete structural solution
for this multi-storey development at Rickmansworth. The resultant scheme, which included the use of structural steelwork to form the retail store, provided the client with a higher quality facility than the originally proposed all steel solution at a significantly reduced cost
.
The four-storey car park caters for Waitrose shoppers and London Underground passengers using the Metropolitan line which runs between London and Amersham.
Located between the rail track and the main A412 road meant that safety was of paramount importance for both the design and construction
of this high profile contract. With extensive expertise in the design of multi-storey car parks, we were able to provide a solution for this challenging building
, which includes a retail store and its supporting warehouse and offices. It was the most complex precast concrete structure undertaken
by us to date.
Working closely with the client’s team, we designed an overall structure that utilizes our well-established precast concrete clear span solution together with the steel frame for the store at high level. The design had to be developed and approved by London Underground in accordance with its very stringent Health & Safety requirements
.
With dual use, we designed the car park to cater for independent access and circulation routes together with complex pedestrian movements
. This included for the provision of separate internal vehicle ramp systems and facilities for shopping trolley movements throughout the building, including the support of travellators and lifts.
Experience of working alongside other railway lines meant we could provide Kier with all necessary documentation, including method statements, lifting plans, crash radii and programming, to enable London Underground to approve our construction operation
.
Our package of work also included for the supply and fix of the waterproofing, deck marking, above ground drainage and handrailing.
Having been fully confident in our being able to provide him with a high quality structural solution, to programme and within budget, John Lewis plc’s Development Construction Manager, Tim Perry, issued us with an instruction to proceed with all works prior to the appointment of Kier Southern as principle contractor.
On completion, Tim Perry said “To use Composite for the delivery of both the concrete and the structural steel frames was the obvious choice and has achieved single point responsibility for this element of the project. Composite were involved from the early design stage through to final delivery and, having worked with them before, we were all confident of a mutually successful outcome to this most challenging of developments.”
