Case study

Gorse Stacks, Chester

Client: Watkin Jones Construction
This regeneration scheme is being developed by Watkin Jones in partnership with  Chester City Council. It will provide residential and retail space with public and private underground parking for over 500 cars.  The 6-storey superstructure will have distinctive gull-wing roofs and incorporate shops and restaurants at street level.

Added value
The buried boundaries of a disused sandstone quarry impinged on the modern site. The basement design required the excavation and enlargement of the old quarry to provide new perimeter walls of free-standing sandstone up to 10m high, as well as secant piled sections where the old quarry extended outside the site.  A new steel frame was designed with tight constraints on downstand depths, and multiple transfer structures to accommodate differing structural grids in the car park, commercial and residential levels.

Services supplied

• Phased ground investigation
• Basement construction options appraisal
• Full civil, highways, drainage and structural design
• Section agreements for infrastructure