See the extraordinary Kingston super lift

See the extraordinary encapsulation of a UK Power Networks sub-station within a steel-lined concrete 'box', using a 1,000 tonne super lift crane to place 50 pre-stressed concrete beams into position.

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Kingston Heights

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Case Study Details

• Client: NHP Leisure Developments Ltd
• Contract Duration: Summer 2011 - Summer 2014
• Contract Value: £70,000,000
• Contract Form: JCT design and build
• Contract Location: Skerne Road, London KT2 5UT

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Description

Kingston Heights is a £70 million mixed-use development in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames in south-west London on behalf of NHP Leisure Developments.

Kingston Heights will comprise 136 residential units, including 80 private apartments, 56 affordable homes which will be managed by national affordable housing provider Affinity Sutton, and an upmarket 150 bedroom hotel with meeting, banqueting and conference facilities.

Paul Brookes Architects and KDS & Associates Ltd have been appointed as Project Delivery Architects on the scheme, which is due for completion in spring 2013.

Kingston Heights will be very eco-friendly, benefitting from a highly sustainable district heating system that will provide all the heating, cooling and hot water requirements for the development. This innovative system will incorporate a state-of-the-art open loop ground source heat pump system that, as its power source, will take full advantage of the natural heat that is permanently stored in the water of the River Thames - a highly efficient use of a natural resource to deliver the scheme’s renewable energy strategy.

Challenges

The first phase of the project will involve the technically-challenging encapsulation of a UK Power Networks substation within a steel-lined concrete ‘box’ approximately 200 metres long, 38 metres wide and four storeys high.

The enclosure will be constructed using pre-cast concrete for the columns, bridge beams and infill panels, and will require a 1,200 tonne mobile crane to lift the 50 ‘u’ shape beams that will form the podium deck, with an average length of 34 metres, a depth of 1.7 metres and each weighing 70 tonnes, into position.

The works will be meticulously planned in key stages around pre-arranged transformer outage times starting in Spring 2012 to ensure there is an uninterrupted supply to UK Power Networks customers in Kingston and the surrounding area.

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