Client

Wakefield District Housing and Sigma Capital

Location

Wakefield

Project Value

£18m

Contractor

Vistry Partnership

Project Brief

The development will provide 140 mixed housing units for Wakefield District Housing. A mix of 2, 3 and 4 bedroom high quality new affordable homes will be made available for rent and sale on a shared ownership basis.

The constrained site is a former railway siding, next to the station in Normanton and is bounded by an operational railway line. The foundation solution therefore needed careful consideration and discussions with Network rail were required to commence the development.

 


Solution

The site was further complicated by a culverted stream running through it as well as overlooking issues, which meant the site needed re-grading.

Close liaison with local planning department, conservation officers and water authorities was key to the success of the scheme.

 

Working closely with the architect we developed the optimum safe placement of the buildings on the site, to avoid disturbing the culvert during piling activities. Adept influenced the foundation design by working with surveyors to plot the course of the stream through the site, enabling the piling contractor to commence work and keep the project on programme.

We advised CFA piles, to minimise vibration during construction, whilst ensuring global stability of the buildings

 

We also advised on scaffolding positioning to accommodate the railway siding, ensuring a safe area of work, which met CDM regulations. We worked with planners to agree an upgrade to the access road serving the site, which was economically viable, to the satisfaction of the conservation officer and appeased the local residents.

 

Re-grading the site involved a significant Civils 3D cut and fill analysis to determine how much material could be kept on site. We liaised with geo-technical specialists and found that all material could be re-used during the cut and fill exercise. During this exercise we altered the ground levels to divert the watercourse to suit the development.