Trowel House in Farlington was a full redevelopment of an existing builders’ merchant site to create a new five-storey manufacturing facility for Harwin Ltd.
Challenge
Updating to a 5-storey purpose built space development
The new building replaces outdated premises with a modern, purpose-built space designed to support advanced production, storage and office functions. The site required demolition, new piled foundations and a steel framed superstructure with reinforced concrete cores and composite flooring.
Calcinotto provided full civil and structural engineering services from concept through detailed design. This included the substructure design and pile loading schedule, superstructure steel and concrete specification, and the full drainage and flood risk strategy for planning. The new facility was supported on a piled foundation system designed to accommodate high axial and lateral loads while maintaining stability on variable made ground and underlying chalk strata.
Solution
Reducing material usage across levels
The superstructure was designed using a composite steel frame, with reinforced concrete floors cast onto metal decking to achieve large, open-plan spaces. The building’s five levels are supported by a combination of rolled and fabricated steel beams, with connection detailing optimised for speed of construction and reduced material usage.
Below ground, Calcinotto developed a sustainable drainage design incorporating a 280m³ attenuation tank and permeable paving to mitigate runoff and reduce flood risk. The design limits discharge rates to greenfield equivalents and includes oil interceptors and catchpits for pollution control.
- Categories Commercial, Industrial
