CLEINT:
SERVICE: Structural Engineering
Westlakes Engineering Ltd (WEL) were commissioned by Lionel House Developments as civil and structural engineers for a new development at 86 Lionel Street, Birmingham. The site was previously occupied by a 10 storey building containing disused offices and a multi-storey car park. The existing structure was demolished and the site cleared to create new platform to construct the new development from.
The redevelopment involves the construction of 259 Private Rental Scheme (PRS) apartments within a newly constructed 14 storey building. The site is underlain by a network of BT telephone exchange tunnels, reportedly constructed in the 1950s and used until the 1980s. The tunnel soffits are understood to be approximately 22.5m to 30.5m below existing ground level. Westlakes agreed a Piling Impact Assessment with BT that demonstrated that the tunnels would be minimally impacted during the construction works and that no significant risk was posed to their asset through this redevelopment.
The residential units were constructed from a steelwork frame with concrete floors with shared residential space and car parking at ground floor. The residential units were formed using lightweight partitions constructed on the 160mm reinforced concrete flooring cast on metal decking which is, in turn, supported by steelwork floor beams and columns. The superstructure steelwork was designed by a specialist sub-contractor. Reinforced concrete on metal decking was utilised to form the roof structure where there is an external terrace, rooftop lounges and the lift over run slab.
