Foundations are key in any building, but particularly in high rise / heavy load buildings. I believe here is a clear example of driven pile foundations being utilised in one of the earlier buildings in the project. Driven piles are used in a multitude of building types, as they transfer their load to rock or soil that have sufficient bearing capacity paired with good settlement characteristics.

Image courtesy of architects: Whitby wood.

In a news update from Whitby wood it is stated that they had to change their original plans as they encountered underground anomalies “such as the two 2.1m diameter, 20m deep brick-lined wells that were found to be situated directly below two of the building stability cores.” In this case they had to devise a plan to maintain schedule and make sure that the buildings in question were safe. Any extra weight over the surrounding brickwork could have caused a collapse.

All of the developments utilise a steel reinforced concrete pillar/beam for rigidity and strength. You can see this most with the exposed concrete in the already built business university building “elm house”.

Below I’ve added an image of the atrium at the entrance of elm house, where you can see the concrete has been polished and buffed to a shine, showing off the internals of the building that you normally wouldn’t be able to see had it been finished to a normal specification.

The developers of this site are U + I – They specialise in regeneration projects and and have a portfolio of around £7bn. The company was born from a merger of 2 companies, those being cathedral group & development securities PLC. Heading up the operation is Mike Hood who joined U+I in 2020 to drive forward a new regeneration strategy, leveraging opportunities from the economic recovery following the Covid-19 crisis. in his previous company he was Managing Director working on a wide range of projects in London including the £10 billion Earls Court project. It’s clear why these were the developers chosen, they are a regeneration first company focusing on enhancing local experiences and raising the potential of the given site.

The architects appointed were Whitby Wood, as of right now they have had 43 projects all over the UK with the majority being in London, with projects such as supermarket construction, housing, regeneration projects and much more. I believe this firm was chosen to undertake this task because of their clear success with other projects and helping to tie together community focused design with sustainability.

Optivo’s site “Home x” is a development plan for 369 new homes to be situated in the Preston barracks site. As it stands there are homes currently available to reserve either using the shared ownership government scheme also know as help to buy, as well as private buyers with a full mortgage.

Flat prices range from;

£245,000 – studio apartment

£280,000 – 1 bedroom flat

£370,000 – 2 bedroom flat

These prices are quite substantial for the square footage you’ll be receiving as the home owner. It’s a common trend for housing to skyrocket, but paying nearly a quarter of a million pounds for a flat where you bedroom will essentially be in you kitchen/living room is quite drastic!

It’s clear that they are at least trying to offer some affordable housing options, but the clear goal here is to recoup costs of other buildings within the project to meet the entire goals of Preston barracks as a whole.