Description

A high quality and striking new office building at the Chichester Business Centre near Rochdale Town Centre.

Size

5000 sq ft of offices over two floors, including kitchen area and lift.

Aims

To create additional office space on a popular site, which had previously been fully occupied since the creation of the Business Centre in 1991.

Challenges

As the work was undertaken on site at a busy business centre, additional efforts were required to ensure existing drainage could be accommodated and that traffic could still move around the site freely, avoiding disruption to tenants. Ground conditions on the site were poor as the former railway siding had been filled to create the current site level.

Solutions

Modern materials were used to ensure the office was built in as short a time as possible to minimize disruption on the site. A joint traffic management plan was implemented to accommodate existing site users, including office staff, vans and HGV's. Due to the poor ground conditions the office was built on 18m piles, this enabled a bearing capacity of 100kN/m2, suitable for the height of the office block.

Benefits

The building benefits from an attractive exterior of composite panels and Rainscreen terracotta cladding, constructed on a steel frame with a lightweight Metsec perimeter wall. The system also provided the structure for the internal wall finishes, utilising a box frame system which fits between the steel. The product ensures an easy and economical build, avoiding brickwork, but providing a high quality finish. The speed of the work enabled existing tenants on the site to move into the premises quicker. The space that they vacated was then also modernised.