Project Brief
We provided civil and structural design services for this new, three-storey, 60-bed boutique hotel in the Peak District village of Hope. The planning authority required some scaling back and other improvements to the original 78-bed proposals to ensure the building respected its sensitive location. We were appointed at Stage 4 to help progress the revised scheme through technical design and a very challenging construction period during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Solution
The steel-framed building features Ashlar/split-faced stone to the main elevation to respond to the local area.
For the foundations, we recommended taking footings down below the soft clay and bearing onto the natural medium dense sands and gravel layers below. We also recommended removing clay under the substation and replacing it with mass fill to suit. We advised plate bearing tests to verify the bearing capacity, settlement, and stability of the ground for outrigger load spreader pads during construction.
We designed and specified the reinforced concrete slab, adding a recess for a walk-in cold store/freezer room. We designed the external store slabs, incorporating drainage into a unique feature of this hotel chain – the WADOBI building, used to clean and store bikes and outdoor kit, and wash muddy dogs.
Calculating by hand, we designed and dimensioned primary steelwork channels and completed tensile stress checks. We combined computer analysis with manual assessment to review acceptable allowances for vertical and horizontal deflections in the roof steelwork, providing markups detailing the size/centring of steel roof ties.
We completed hydraulic calculations to assess surface water drainage, ensuring it would efficiently drain away from the highway and be managed on site. We successfully incorporated an existing land drain and introduced a permeable drainage solution for certain areas.
We also secured a S278 approval from Highways.
