This award winning project is built on the site of a disused petrol station overlooking Chorlton Park. The redevelopment comprised 2 medium rise (5 & 3 storey) timber framed apartment buildings providing a total of 27 flats, over an existing concrete basement car park.

Sustainable construction and low heating and maintenance costs were among the priorities in developing the site. To deliver the necessary level of heat retention, the walls and floors are constructed of sealed units filled with insulating material. Each unit is formed from timber studs some 300mm deep, set close together in a sterling board sandwich. The high levels of insulation achieved and natural passive ventilation ensures very low heating costs. Solar collector panels in the acoustic glazed screen provide passive heating, and louvered screens provide shade and privacy.

The original tender was over budget, we therefore engaged as part of the Integrated Supply Team (IST) to value engineer the elemental parts of the project to achieve best value for our client. Examples of the value engineering included a full review of the external envelope. Working closely with the supply team we proposed and delivered savings on the specification of the timber frame, the render system, the windows, curtain walling and the roofing and external cladding materials. Further savings were identified on the extensive external oak framed balcony structure, whereby we engaged with a timber yard in southern France and imported the large 300 x 300mm green oak sections. The French had a surplus of oak at the time due to heavy storms over the early Summer period. This generated a £50,000 saving on this element alone.

The balconies are an extension of the living space and overlook the park, whilst an enclosed courtyard with steel and timber external walkways, stairs and an 8 person hydraulic lift give the disabled access to all flats via security controlled access. The external walls are constructed with a combination of steel cladding, proprietary board cladding and a through coloured insulated render. The roof is constructed using single layer rubberfuse roofing. All materials used in the fabric of the building were chosen and specified with sustainability as the key factor.

Other challenges on this project included running a ‘workshop’ with the Local Health and Safety Executive to demonstrate our ‘safe system of work’ during their ‘Falls from Height’ initiative, a challenge in itself hosting 8 HSE inspectors for the day.

We have developed a healthy relationship with our fellow members of the Project team and have completed a variety of projects with them since, including: