Sir Robert McAlpine
We were appointed as engineers on the Springfield Forensic and Non-Forensic buildings. These consist of two blocks of five storeys, approximately 110m by 75m on plan. Springfield is mixed-use scheme consisting of hospital wards, car parking, plant and retail space. Together both blocks provide over 150 bedrooms and a wide array of treatment rooms, facilities and quiet garden spaces. One block contains two large roof gardens protected by a series of cantilevering concrete piers with a high specified finish.
We were able to derive a lean design to minimise slab depths while removing columns & significantly simplifying the slab soffits. One of the new blocks overhangs an existing building by up to 5.5m. We designed a cantilevering shear wall system to achieve the offset and minimise the disruption to the existing building. We utilised our network of geotechnical specialists to design a lean ground-bearing raft foundation for both structures to support the heavy weight of the building.
