RESIDENTIAL

We are justifiably proud of our track record in the residential sector, which accounts for over half our workload. Over the past ten years, since we were founded, PRO Structures has worked on all scales of residential developments, from single bespoke structures and extensions, to whole new villages. Our clients in the residential sector are split between small to medium sized architectural consultancies, predominantly in the South West and Midlands, and national house builders with offices in our region.

We also specialise in structural design for change of use, for both our architect and developer clients, converting old hospitals, offices, farm buildings and industrial units into desirable housing. With an excess of these buildings lying empty, and pressure on land with the need to build more homes, we bring our expertise to the table while often being able to save our clients money and enable them to create greener, more energy-efficient buildings without the need to start from scratch.

Station Road, Royal Wootton Bassett

This new residential development on Station Road, for Persimmon Homes Wessex, will comprise 51 new housing units, including detached and terraced houses, and 2, 3 and 4 storey buildings and their associated garages. Built with a traditional load-bearing masonry construction, the apartment blocks will use pre-cast concrete floors, while the houses above ground floor level will use timber TJI flooring. The ground floors throughout will use suspended beam and block floors.

Brade Drive Retirement Village, Coventry (Phases 1 and 2)

The Brade Drive project involved the structural design for five new 2 and 3-storey apartment blocks, to house 31 retirement flats of 620 sq ft, with a second phase of 13 bungalow units and a small community centre. PRO Structures has provided foundation, masonry, balcony and proprietary element design and recommendations for the first two sections of the village (phases A and B), along with a structural review.

Weir House, St Anne’s, Bristol

This fascinating residential development project at Weir House is set to create 30 new apartments out of an old 1960s office building, helping to regenerate the area of St Anne’s in Bristol by providing vital new affordable dwellings for Merlin Housing Society, in partnership with Bristol City Council, for whom we worked in tandem with both Prelon Developments and Angus Meek Architects. It was a structurally challenging scheme as the office block is L-shaped, with a modular steel frame, and the new proposals involve the need for lightweight partitions and re-cladding of the external elevations in order to ‘cut and carve’ the building  into flats.

8, Kingscliffe Gardens, Wimbledon, south-west London

The rear extension to this terraced Victorian house on Kingscliffe Gardens in Wimbledon, south-west London, was interesting in so far as the very modern design required knocking through the entire ground floor, opening up the space to create an inside-outside living area which needed to be supported by a structural steel frame. The architect incorporated a considerable glazed area for natural daylight, which posed structural challenges in so far as the steel framework needed to remain sympathetic to the design, avoiding visible beams and supports.

Lansdown Ridge residential development, Bath

The prestigious Lansdown Ridge project has involved the structural design for a group of four bespoke low-carbon 5-bedroom mansions on a hillside overlooking the historic city of Bath, for Charlcombe Homes. The buildings feature piled foundations with insulated concrete walling for their superstructure support. We liaised closely with the architect to guarantee a very high specification, providing best value designed concepts while meeting a challenging aesthetic brief. The scheme was completed in 2013 and PRO Structures went on to provide the structural design for two other major projects for the same developer.

213 A Bath Road, Cheltenham

This two-storey infill development, L-shaped on plan, presented PRO Structures with several interesting sub-structure and structural design issues. To one side of the building there is an existing structure with a basement, so our new foundations had to be carefully designed and stepped down in order not to overstress the neighbouring basement building. On the other side, the neighbouring shop, located in the snug of the ‘L’, also had to have its foundations underpinned for our scheme to be built. Hence we were working in constrained circumstances, and needed to find innovative solutions while also endeavouring to cause minimum disruption to the surrounding buildings. This project was completed in autumn 2011.

For more information on any of these, or indeed on any of our projects, please get in touch – we would love to hear from you. Call us on 0117 923 8777, or drop us an email on info@prostructures.co.uk

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