Composite completes 4-storey car park and supermarket for Waitrose adjacent to busy railway line.

This sector has benefited from Composite’s extensive expertise in the construction of both single deck and multi-storey car parks, and retail outlets.

Recent car park contracts include a full construction package for Waitrose at Cobham in Surrey, where it wanted to maintain maximum utilisation of its existing customer parking facility, and structural frame packages for Wm Morrison in Edinburgh and Waitrose in Rickmansworth.

Retail outlets have been constructed in conjunction with the car park or as a free-standing structure.

At Rickmansworth we designed and built the 26,000ft² steel framed Waitrose supermarket that is located on top of the car park. Whilst at Walton-on-Thames we created a Sainsbury’s supermarket at ground floor level together with four levels of parking above.

Features of Walton-on-Thames include the use of a primary grid throughout the complex of 15.6m x 9.6m, giving a minimum of internal columns, and 28.8m long steel trusses to form the loading bay area. Being a very restricted urban site, precast concrete wall panels were supplied as an alternative to blockwork, which was beneficial in terms of programme, material storage and site deliveries.

For Tesco, we have provided the structural frame for five supermarkets. They benefit from our ability to provide large clear spans through the use of steel roof trusses supported by precast concrete columns that have an inherent fire rating

In all cases, Composite’s ability to provide effective, user-friendly layouts was fully recognised.

Examples are illustrated in our Case Histories section.

Significant features beneficial to our retail customers include the ability:

• to create clear, open spans
• to form a flat soffit throughout the building which helps to create a safe, light and airy environment
• to form a flat soffit which can contribute to savings in M&E costs as a result of both reduced fixing costs and better light levels
• to provide effective internal car park layouts which allow for smooth traffic flows in, out and within - a key factor in a sector where customer turnover is extensive