The opportunity

We aided the conversion of this former Victorian King's College building in Manresa Road to fifteen luxury apartments with an unprecedented 8 star specification.

The operation

In common with all the features of the development, the specification for the steel frame was very high. The deflection of the floor beams under subsequent fit-out loads had to be limited to 1/750 and a low dynamic response factor. This did not make the design easy, but the developer wanted to ensure that expensive floor finishes, such as marble, would not be at risk of cracking. The cellular beams had 300mm holes at 450mm centres with additional rectangular holes for ductwork. The long span 16-metre cellular beams help to accommodate future client bespoke requirements as they give large uninterrupted spans.

The result

Using a structural steel frame enabled the apartments to be supported behind the retained façade. A service zone was generated within the depth of the cellular beams. With the use of universal columns along the party walls at 2-metre centres, supporting beams were able to span the full width of each unit. This design removed the need for internal columns and beams and provided the apartments with an incredible 16-metre wide span and 2,500 sq. ft. of free space in each apartment and a blank canvas for the owners to personalise as they wished.