Private, age-restricted, sheltered accommodation

• Posted by Karyn Middleton on 25th Feb ’08 at 11:28 GMT
• 0 comments

Fairview New Homes Ltd (Fairview) provides affordable housing mainly, but not exclusively, for first time buyers in and around London. For over 35 years, Fairview has carved a reputation in the building industry for delivering consistent quality and value.

To date, the company has built over 35,000 homes and each year, up to 2,000 new homes are completed. The company’s performance is a result of the harmonious integration of its land acquisition, planning, building, sales and marketing divisions.

Fairview is the parent company of Rialto Homes Ltd (Rialto), who recently appointed Evans Jones LLP to provide technical construction drawings on a number of retirement developments in Bury St Edmunds, Brentwood and Caterham. It is the Caterham site that this case study refers to.

Rialto was responsible for constructing the Caterham development and taking the scheme from planning approval, obtained by Fairview, through the working drawing process, securing approvals and consents, appointing sub-contractors and consultants to see the development through to final completion.

The Brief

Located in a suburban setting, the Caterham site was originally occupied by a number of 1930s two-storey, semi-detached houses all addressing the main road, and dropping away steeply behind the houses, down to a railway line.

It was a concern of the planners that the replacement building should not be any taller than the houses which originally occupied the site and the scheme was designed to resemble a number of units addressing the road rather than appearing as one large building.

The Challenge

To achieve the number of units on the site that the client required, the new building had to stretch back further into the site than the original houses, and consequently the building needed to accommodate the extreme change in levels across the site.

The central circulation core of the building is four storeys in height although the elevation to the road frontage is only two storeys in height. The building is effectively set into the hillside by two storeys and steps down as it stretches into the rear of the site. The building, where it addresses the gardens to the rear of the site, reduces in scale.

It was a condition of the planning consent that the scheme generated 10 percent of its energy via a renewable energy source on site. The chosen method of renewable energy was a mixture of photovoltaic cells and solar panels; these were used to heat water which was used to heat the communal areas.

Due to the changing levels across the site a number of complex roofs were required at different levels which intersected with one another and could not solely be supported on the masonry walls below. As such a steel frame had to be designed to sit under the roof itself sitting on wall plates at different levels and even on different storeys. Because the CAD package used by Evans Jones generates the drawings from a 3D model of the building, it was possible to provide the structural engineer, and eventually the contractor, with a series of skeletal diagrams helping to explain the steel frame and its bearing points.

As well as working with the design team to deliver the information necessary to build the project out to the contractor Evans Jones also dealt with and negotiated with local Building Control to ensure that the building was compliant in terms of the means of escape. This needed careful consideration on such a steeply sloping site, with limited access to the rear, and with a predominantly elderly population.

Benefits Achieved

“Evans Jones took the planning approved scheme to a full working drawing package for both construction and approval purposes. The package of drawings was both excellently presented, accurate in content and cross referencing. Evans Jones asked all the right questions and suggested solutions during the working drawing process.”

Gary Bangs
Group Design Manager, Rialto Homes Ltd

Summary

Over the past few years Evans Jones has completed a range of projects providing private, age-restricted, sheltered accommodation for a number of developers.

Typically these sites have been in suburban locations with good access to local amenities and facilities for their future residents. Some of the sites, however, have presented a number of design challenges for the developers, designers and construction teams alike.

Working as part of a team in conjunction with the developer, the end operator and a number of other design consultants including mechanical and electrical engineers, structural engineers, acoustic consultants etc, Evans Jones has helped to construct close to 200 units.

The buildings typically comprise of a range of one and two bed flats as well as a number of on-site communal facilities which vary from site to site but typically include residents’ lounges, laundrettes, guest accommodation, hair dressing salons, commercial units to be let to local businesses, warden accommodation, external amenity spaces and landscaped surroundings.

An increasing consideration is that of onsite renewable energy provision. Not only is this being driven by the recent changes in Building Regulations but also a number of the clients are becoming more attune to the potential to reduce the running costs of the development by introducing onsite provision of energy.

With Evans Jones history of providing technical packages for many of the larger developers in the country including Bovis, Crest and Westbury, the consultancy is well placed to understand the requirements of developers working to a budget and tight timescales. Furthermore, Evans Jones has a sound technical knowledge base resulting in the provision of efficient and buildable solutions for developers and contractors alike.