The East Park development consists of twelve 3 to 8 storeys high blocks and will provide much needed high-quality accommodation to a high environmental standard. The project has a total area of 32,000m2 of accommodation and communal space. It was planned in three distinct phases, starting with the linear low-rise blocks A to D, then the second phase of the medium rise blocks E to J and finally blocks K to L.
Largest student accommodation in the UK
The project is located on a steeply sloping site and the taller blocks are on the lower part of the site that is stepped so that the roof levels are essentially the same on all blocks in order to reduce the visual impact.
The main contractor, Vinci, and Metek completed Phase 1 consisting of blocks A to D in September 2020, taking only 9 months including extensive ground works for the later phases. Phase 2 of blocks F to J started in January 2021 and the last two blocks will be completed for a September opening at the start of the academic year in 2021, making an impressive 20 months in total for the whole project.
Three basic types of rooms were provided: Standard bedrooms, en-suite rooms and accessible rooms. Standard bedrooms are arranged in flats of 10 bedrooms of 9.6m2 area, whereas en-suite rooms are arranged in flats of 6 or 8 of 12.7m2 area. The linear blocks had a cluster of 8 study bedrooms connected by a corridor to a spacious kitchen/communal area.
The Metek Solution
Metek’s package consisted of the lightweight steel structure for the accommodation levels, steel beams and columns to create moment resisting frames for the lower levels in Blocks F, G and L in particular, on site concrete onto decking, reinforcement, precast concrete stairs and external sheathing boards.
This made the building weather tight for the follow-on trades. Bathroom pods were installed as each floor was constructed.
Construction Details
The stepped site was created by a series of reinforced concrete retaining walls with drainage routes across the site to avoid risk of future ground movement. The site offices were located at the top of the site. The linear blocks were built on pad footings because of their light weight. Block L at the bottom of the site was built on a piling net of infilled earth between RC retaining walls to allow consolidation of the ground. A total of 7 tower cranes was used throughout the project duration.
The site logistics were important and all deliveries had to be minimised and timed to reduce the impact on local roads. A circular drop-off point was created at the lower part of the site which would later become the sheltered location of the new botanical gardens. Delivery notices were made at least 3 days in advance. Very little construction waste was generated by the off-site construction system and up to 90% of waste was recycled.
Blocks A to D are linear low-rise buildings. The larger medium rise blocks E to L are built in light steel framing with extensive use of structural steel frames that were all part of the Metek package. They are generally in T or L shaped plan forms except for block K which is a taller rectangular form. The cascading site and the location of the blocks is shown below.
For the 5 to 7 storey buildings, the structure at the open planground floor had moment resisting steel frames consisting of beams and columns with bolted haunched connections, which were fabricated and installed by Metek.
Application Benefits
- Rapid speed of construction for this student residential project of 32,000m2 floor area
- BREEAM ‘Excellent’ by use of Combined Heat and Power for the whole project
- Integrated construction system provided by Metek
- Sloping site with terracing and extensive ground works
- Open plan at ground floor by an additional rigid steel frame
- Fire resistant and non-combustible
