Westend Retail Park, Blanchardstown, Dublin 15. (Units 7 – 11)
This project was carried out in a ‘live’ working environment. Construction work was carried out while normal trading continued. Careful construction planning was required to eliminate many of the risks that are associated with working in an operational environment.
Project Details
- This project involved the relocation of a number of existing retailers within the park to new units.
- When relocation had been completed, some of the existing units were sub-divided and mezzanine floors incorporated into the layout.
- Internal alterations also took place in Units 3 and 4. Internal works in the project included the installation of lifts, staircases and high specification metalwork, lighting and glazing.
- The new unit for the Next Group consisted of the construction of a 2,000 sq. m unit with three floors. The external envelope was finished in a combination of stone cladding and curtain walling.
- External work included service connections to public mains supply, paving, the upgrading of the entire traffic management system, the installation of a new paved walkway with a glass canopy and all associated civil engineering works.
- All internal and external finishes were completed to an extremely high standard.
- This project was carried out in a ‘live’ working environment – construction work was carried out while normal trading continued.
- Careful construction planning was required to eliminate many of the risks that are associated with working in an operational environment. An example of some of the potential that risks that ABM successfully managed on this project included the presence of live services such as the electricity supply to adjacent retail units and street lighting, water supply and drainage.
- Prior to working on-site, the induction of all staff and subcontractors, which ABM carries out on all projects, included training in working with live services specific to this project.
- During the enabling and construction works, regular ground surveys were carried out and specific risk assessments completed at each stage to ensure that live services were not affected by the works. Where disruption of services was avoidable, such as installation of new surface and foul drainage, works were completed outside of trading hours to eliminate the impact to other retail units.
- ABM programmed the project in phases in order to accommodate the continuance of business on the premises without any disruption to the client(s) whilst works were underway.
- All health and safety matters, including traffic management, took high priority due to the constant requirement for access to the premises by members of the general public.
- ABM maintained their excellent Health and Safety record throughout the project.
George’s Square, Balbriggan, Co. Dublin. (Mixed Use Development)
The site was located in the main street of Balbriggan and was bound by an existing library, an existing hotel and public road. To allow excavation of the basement, the site was piled using CFA piles on three sides with ground anchors used to support the piles. The foundations were piled using both continuous flight augered (CFA) and odex piling to accommodate the varying ground conditions. The basement structure was a traditional reinforced concrete frame design with a 600 mm podium slab to support the basement structures.
Project Details
Multi-purpose Development at George’s Square
The main structure of this development consisted of a 22 no. bedroom extension to the existing five-storey Bracken Court Hotel, 1,600 sq.m three-storey offices for Fingal County Councils’ new Library and Town Council offices, 18 no. one and two bedroom apartments and a 350 sq. m new function room off the existing hotel. A total of four retail units were located below both the offices and the hotel extension.
Refurbishment Works to Existing Library
- During the project, additional work instructions were issued involving the existing Fingal Balbriggan Public Library. The existing library was gutted and refurbished to incorporate a first floor level connection between the library and the main development retail area. This connection was made by installing a mezzanine level and balcony.
- A glass and timber thread stairs on an exposed steel structure was installed to accommodate access between levels.
- Other fit-out works carried out within the library included dry-lining existing walls, construction and finishing of stud partition walls to create offices and all internal wall and ceiling finishes.
Refurbishment Works to Existing Hotel
- As part of this project an extension to the existing hotel was constructed and the fit-out carried out by ABM.
- These works included fit-out of the bedrooms and bathrooms and refurbishment works to the section of existing hotel that was broken out to accommodate the new extension.
- Works to the extension also involved the construction of a function room which was fitted out with acoustic timber paneling, an entertainment system and a fully fitted dedicated kitchen area to support events such as conferences and weddings.
- Additional work instructions were also issued during the project which involved the refurbishment works to Fingal Balbriggan Library, the addition of an extra floor to the hotel extension and extensive works as part of the Balbriggan Town Square upgrade.
Live Site
- All works were carried out whilst the site was ‘live’.
- There was no disruption to local businesses who continued to trade as normal.
- ABM implemented a traffic management system which allowed for all areas to remain functional and open to the public, retailers etc throughout this project which was phased to allow for all works to be undertaken whilst eliminating any safety issues which may otherwise have arisen.
Stepaside Educate Together Secondary School
Project Details:
ABM’s role in the project was as Main Contractor and Project Supervisor for the Construction Stage (PSCS) undertaking 100% of the Construction works and Lead Designer and Project Manager of the Design and Build project.
The foundation detail consisted of reinforced strip footings which were then poured, with 20mm diameter starter bars which were cast in to the strip footings at approximately 1.8m centres. These were cast absolutely plumb and set out in accordance with O’ Reilly Precast Concrete drawings, to align with the cores in the precast wall panels.
13No subfloor blockwork then built incorporating sub floor drainage within the footprint of the building. Reinforced hollowcore slabs were then installed. 100mm insulation and a 75mm screed made up the ground floor screed.
The building frame was constructed using precast concrete wall panels and hollowcore concrete floor slabs topped with concrete screed. Some structural steel was incorporated into the concrete frame design and installation to facilitate cantilevered slab areas and flat roofs. The prefabricated wall panels and hollowcore slabs were delivered on an as-needed basis.
The concrete frame was erected in 3 parts, allowing for screeding works to be ongoing in one area, while precast walls and hollowcore slabs were being installed in another area. The buildings external envelope was made up of 90mm insulation fitted tight to the outer face of the precast wall panel, 60mm air cavity, with rendered blockwork, brickwork and areas of outer brick cladding and some rain screen granite stone cladding.
Structural opes were formed in the precast wall panels at production stage, following BIM coordination of M&E service requirements. This allowed for installation of mechanical and electrical containment and ventilation to pass between wall and floors.
A PVC membrane roofing system was installed on site. The roofing consisted of a metal decking, 120mm PIR insulation and PVC membrane top coat fixed to a structural steel frame fixed to the precast walls at ground floor, 1st floor and 2nd floor level with sheeting rail roof supports at the requisite centres to support the roof sheets. The 2 part and single part roofing was made up a sedum green roof.
St. Mary’s Central National School, Donnybrook, Dublin 4
Project Details:
On this project ABM Design and Build carried out the role of PSCS. The management and co-ordination of Health and Safety, during the course of the project, for both the employees and the general public was managed using ABM Design and Build’s strict Safety Management System. The Safety Management System has OHSAS 18001:2007 accreditation.
Craughwell National School, Craughwell, Co. Galway
Shinrone Mixed National School, Roscrea Road, Birr, Co. Offaly
Churchfields Phase 2B, Mulhuddart, Dublin 15): Social Housing
Requirements:
- Structural frame comprising panelised light gauge steel frames (LGSF) with integrated insulated wall panels built off site and delivered flat packed to the site for completion and delivery in a very short time period.
- The LGSF system includes frames to form wall panels which have a PIR insulation board fixed to the steel studs that form the frame and have a polyurethane foam spray applied to the inside of the insulation board to provide continuously sealed frame to enhance insulation properties and air tightness.
- The building fabric incorporates a high standard of insulation achieving an A2 rating using triple glazed windows and air-tight membranes meeting the requirements and to the satisfaction of Fingal County Council.
- Internal party walls and ceilings built to meet onerous thermal conductivity, acoustic and fire resistance requirements.
- Each dwelling was installed with a high performance heat pump as the main source of hot water and heating.
- Further advanced heat zonal design allowed for minimal electric usage thus reducing Carbon footprint of end user.
Liscappagh (Cappaghfinn Phase 3), Finglas, Dublin 11: Social Housing
Requirements:
- Structural frame comprising panelised light gauge steel frames (LGSF) with integrated insulated wall panels built off site and delivered flat packed to the site for completion and delivery in a very short time period.
- The LGSF system includes frames to form wall panels which have a PIR insulation board fixed to the steel studs that form the frame and have a polyurethane foam spray applied to the inside of the insulation board to provide continuously sealed frame to enhance insulation properties and air tightness.
- The building fabric incorporates a high standard of insulation achieving an A2 rating using triple glazed windows and air-tight membranes meeting the requirements and to the satisfaction of Fingal County Council.
- Internal party walls and ceilings built to meet onerous thermal conductivity, acoustic and fire resistance requirements.
- Each dwelling was installed with a high performance heat pump as the main source of hot water and heating.
- Further advanced heat zonal design allowed for minimal electric usage thus reducing Carbon footprint of end user.
Malahide Portmarnock Educate Together Secondary School
Project Details:
ABM’s role in the project was as Main Contractor and Project Supervisor for the Construction Stage (PSCS).
The building frame was constructed using precast concrete wall panels and hollowcore concrete floor slabs topped with concrete screed on pile foundations. The foundation solution incorporated reinforced concrete ground beams/ pile caps which are a durable robust system used to take concentrated loads from the superstructure and spread them evenly onto piles for transfer to the underlying clay stratum. Some structural steel was incorporated into the concrete frame design and installation to facilitate cantilevered slab areas & staircase landings.
The prefabricated wall panels and hollowcore slabs were delivered on an as-needed basis. The concrete frame was erected in two halves. The buildings external wall was made up of 90mm insulation fitted tight to the outer face of the precast wall panel, 60mm air cavity two and brickwork and rendered blockwork. The wall tie system for the outer leaf was the Ancon brick tie channel type, with vertical channels fitted through the insulation with compression sleeves, and then Ancon wall ties connected into the channels at the appropriate centres to restrain the outer leaf brickwork.
The roof construction comprised a series of pitched roof surfaces with Bauder membrane & standing seams on insulation on roof deck fitted to a structural steel frame. The top level precast roof walls were cast with notches to allow the sheeting rails to cross over the internal walls. Without such notches, the rails would have been fixed to the tops of the walls, thereby increasing the height to the top of the roof ridge, and creating a greater area internally for airtightness, fireproofing and acoustic works to be completed. Rooflights opes were trimmed out as necessary to provide for rooflights installation in areas where additional daylighting was required to be provided to satisfy requirements.
Mechanical and Electrical containment was surface mounted to the underside of the hollowcore slabs and to the precast wall panels. These works commenced once the 1st floor slab installation and screeding was completed.