Notting Hill
Nido Student Living, Notting Hill
The team at Evolve worked closely with ISG and architects TP Bennett, on the construction of a new building on Kensal Road in Notting Hill London. The development is a mixed use building with business units and ancillary student residential facilities on the ground floor and six storeys, two recessed upper floors, of student accommodation above comprising 233 student rooms. The new building will include a range of support facilities including a lounge, laundry, gym, games room, foyer, cycle storage and general storage.
Challenge
The team at Evolve worked closely with ISG and architects TP Bennett, on the construction of a new building on Kensal Road in Notting Hill London. The development is a mixed use building with business units and ancillary student residential facilities on the ground floor and six storeys, two recessed upper floors, of student accommodation above comprising 233 student rooms. The new building will include a range of support facilities including a lounge, laundry, gym, games room, foyer, cycle storage and general storage.
A seven-storey reinforced concrete frame structure was constructed, which features an internal courtyard area at first floor level. The 89,294 sq. ft building will accommodate 272 student beds, including twin bed apartments, single studio units and specially designed disabled rooms.
Solution
The scope of the project essentially comprised the demolition of an existing building on the site and construction of a new free-standing building. On one side, this abutted an existing retained building and on the other three, the building fronted closely on to the site boundaries, two onto roads and one onto the canal. Proximity to the Grand Union Canal and sloping site topography have resulted in challenging ground conditions requiring a reduced level dig and the installation of a sheet piled retaining wall, to protect the canal tow path.
Designed by architects TP Bennett to complement the surrounding built environment, the new student accommodation will incorporate a brick façade to the lower five storeys, with curtain walling to the upper two levels.
We worked very closely with TP Bennett to coordinate the column numbers and positions. We were able to introduce additional columns, within the bedroom layouts, which allowed us to reduce the concrete slab by 50mm, down from the original 250mm thick slab to only 200mm. This reduced the overall height of the building saving money and time for both the concrete frame and the cladding. We also utilised precast columns to speed up construction on site.
