Stockwool were approached by Swan Nu-Living, based on our extensive experience of design and delivery of tall buildings, and invited deliver this complex scheme adjacent to the tube corridor. The original scheme was designed at planning for 274 new homes by Studio Egret West. SEW were retained as overseeing design architects and worked closely with Stockwool, agreeing our final designs.
We optimised the floor plates, heights and stacking and were therefore able to provide 291 units within the proposed envelope, adding 2 floors of accommodation across the floor plate providing 17 additional units in total. The additional units were enthusiastically received by London Borough Barking and Dagenham with the viability secured and increased number of homes in the borough.
The buildings overall height was utilised to the maximum by reducing the ceiling service zones by controlling service cross over points within bathrooms and hallways. The structure was optimally reduced using post tensioned concrete reducing slab thickness to 200mm. Layouts were further optimised to centralise and stack services maximising access to light from the external envelope.
The entire process was optimised via our BIM delivery, coordination and clash detection provided in house by our BIM manger. The unitised cladding was originally light weight GRC, however the pressure placed on the viability of the scheme by the increased cost imposed by Brexit and the increase in exchange rate required further optimisation, the glass reinforced concrete (GRC) cladding was subsequently changed to a textured polyester powder coated aluminium panel that looked similar form the viewing distance. The difficult balcony variations and junctions were fully modelled in three dimensions to ensure these could be delivered as designed. The sweeping curves of the horizontal banding designed by Studio Egret West were able to be retained in aluminium.
