The Vale is a new multi-storey mixed-use development comprising commercial units and 64 residential flats spread across 8 floors. The scheme also includes associated car parking and carefully integrated soft landscaping. Vertex provided full Structural and Civil Engineering Design services for the project, which maximizes the footprint of a highly constrained urban site, extending the building to the boundary lines on all sides.
The site's full boundary build-out presented immediate structural challenges, requiring most of the perimeter foundations to be cantilevered to prevent encroachment and to accommodate adjacent property constraints. Midway through the construction phase, the client introduced a major design change, requesting the addition of a basement plant room. This required rapid coordination and redesign by the engineering team to integrate the new basement without causing significant delays to the ongoing works on site.
The superstructure consists of a reinforced concrete frame utilizing flat slabs, shear walls, and columns to provide robust vertical and lateral stability. Roof terraces are be fully insulated, and balconies are supported using proprietary thermal break connectors to minimize thermal bridging. The foundation system comprises piled foundations with a combination of individual pile caps and raft pile caps, designed to support the structural loads while adapting to the limited site access and adjacent structures.
Vertex has worked collaboratively with the wider design and construction team to respond swiftly to evolving requirements, ensuring the integration of the new basement plant room was achieved with minimal disruption. Civil design included the implementation of a constrained drainage strategy, navigating tight spatial conditions to deliver compliant and efficient drainage and SuDS systems within the dense substructure layout.
