Concrete by designCONCRETE

The vast majority of PRO Structures’ schemes involve design in reinforced concrete and masonry to a greater or lesser extent, as it is often the material of choice due to its high compressive strength and low maintenance costs.

We work to both the commonly used British standards, and to Eurocodes if needed. We use the latest versions of MasterSeries, TEDDS and AutoCAD, and design to both traditional specifications such as reinforced concrete, as well as being proficient in some more innovative uses such as ICF (insulated concrete form).

Our substructure work naturally also utilises concrete design, in terms of foundation piling and retaining wall structures. We also design in, and/or assess the concrete properties in change of use schemes, such as when we need to establish if the concrete in the original build is still fit for purpose and will work within the amended design scheme tolerances, which usually involve extra load.

Examples of PRO Structures projects involving concrete include:

  • Lansdown Ridge: these five mansions, which all enjoy panoramic views over the Box and Swainswick valleys, feature piled foundations with insulated concrete walling for their superstructure support.
  • concrete by designOakdene, our second project for Charlcombe Homes, followed on from Lansdown Ridge, involving further bespoke luxury dwellings overlooking Bath. This was a complex job, involving innovative ICF construction for excellent airtightness, and has been built on a steeply sloping site with marginal stability, which meant the houses have needed high retaining walls and piled foundations – we worked closely with Core Geotechnics and Cementation Piling to ensure we designed the best solutions in the ground.
  • Brade Drive (Phase 1: A and B) in Coventry is a recent development of five 2 and 3-storey apartment blocks, which will house 31 retirement flats. The apartment blocks were designed to sit on piled foundations with load-bearing masonry walls supported by RC ground beams, proprietary pre-cast suspended floor slabs and proprietary timber-trussed raftered roofs.
  • Coniston Community Centre – for the extension to this Bristol community centre’s foundations, we specified a cantilevering reinforced concrete ground beam with RC pads substructure support to support the new superstructure loads, so they do not affect the existing scheme’s deep strip foundations.
  • 2-4 Hanham Road, Bristol – for this conversion from a two-storey commercial building to a three storey apartment block, we analysed the load bearing capacity of the original building, which was designed to take heavy industrial loads, before designing a new lightweight timber 3rd storey to stand within the existing load tolerances for the site.

 

Do visit our case studies page for more detail on our schemes, and we welcome emails on info@prostructures.co.uk.