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The client required the design of a 4 storey multi use building comprising restaurant on the ground floor with flats above. The client was also the contractor, and the project was run under a Design & Build Contract. Croft Structural Engineers Ltd had to work closely to produce a scheme that would work, and also that the client had the technical skill to build.
Utilising high end design techniques
To minimise the structure, “heavy” analytical design was completed on the slab with the use of finite element. The slab acted as a transfer structure, transferring the loads from the upper floors onto the columns in the restaurant. On the upper floors a low tech timber frame sits on the easy to construct lower frame.
It's all in the detail
The contract required that the timber frame manufacturer was to build the upper section. They were to provide the design and drawings for their elements. The level of information provided by Croft was so good that the contractor built the timber frame without using the timber frame contractor.
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