Client: Sons & Co
Architect: Witherford Watson Mann
The new Almshouse will be built around a courtyard garden with glazed galleries providing access to the apartments. There will be a series of shared rooms at ground and first floors including a café, cookery school, craft room and meeting room. A rooftop garden will be provided on the second floor.
The structure consists of a four-storey reinforced concrete frame with flat slabs and the top storey is timber construction. Lift and staircase core walls are constructed in concrete for stability. Fire escape routes are provided by timber walkways at five levels. The walkways will be supported on cantilever steelwork. The architecturally expressed walkway structures have received a high-level of design attention to achieve the desired aesthetic whilst achieving the Building Regulation fire requirements.
Design challenges have also included the design of a 15-metre span concrete-encased steel transfer beam supporting the building over the garden room.
