FP McCann - Holiday Inn Express Group specifies Modular Precast Concrete Frame Solution on 4th Generation Hotel Design

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The 138 room accommodation situated at Junction 24 of the M5 motorway is one of the Zeal Hotel group's new Gen 4 hotel schemes for Holiday Inn Express (HIEx) developments. Once complete in spring 2019, it is ideally located to part serve the local workforce and visitors to the new Hinkley Point C nuclear power station. Architect on the project is Aros and the consultant structural engineer is Clegg Associates, who have also employed the design services of Practech Design Studio (PDS) for the detailing of the external façade.

The four storey building is well underway with work having commenced in March this year.

In total, around 509 individual precast concrete structural and architectural units will make up the precast structural frame including 394 structural products consisting of reinforced concrete solid floor slabs, internal walls and stairs all manufactured at FP McCann's Grantham depot.

The building's architectural façade has been specifically designed to incorporate both a brick faced and acid etched finish. The decorative cladding panels are of an insulated 'sandwich' construction, specially cast to meet the exacting design brief. The 30 brick faced panels, each 365mm thick, are being manufactured at Grantham and 84 acid etched panels from Littleport are 410mm thick, with two different colour shades to match the architectural design requirements.

The insulation layer sits between the inner and outer concrete faces on each sandwich panel and have been designed to accommodate the aluminium framed 0.18 U value windows, supplied by Window Glass (Bristol) Ltd, all pre-installed into the precast panels prior to delivery. A single handling operation on site then ensures that the architectural panels are installed quickly and efficiently with minimal risk of damage.

The precast wall and floor sections have been designed for ease of build, linking together with hidden tie rods. Joints are finished with a high-strength non-shrink grout. As part of the contract, S4J Ltd are also installing 130 pre-formed bathroom pods supplied by Somerset-based company, Off Site Solutions (RT) Ltd.

Both the structural and architectural facade teams at FP McCann have worked closely with the engineers and architects on the project to ensure all aspects of the build meet the exacting client specification.

Commenting on the building progress to date, Grant Millar, Operations Manager for Midas Construction says, "This method of modular precast construction demonstrates a number of efficiencies compared with practices associated with a traditional build. The remote manufacturing of the building components offers significant advantages in terms of product quality and integrity. On site, speed of construction, minimising waste and the ability to work uninterrupted in all weather conditions are all major benefits. Additionally, the sandwich panel external facade system removes the need for scaffolding, thereby minimising the health and safety risk factors associated with people working at height."

For further information on FP McCann's Architectural and Structural Solutions, contact the team at our London Office 020 3905 7640, our Byley Office 01606 843500 or email sales@fpmccann.co.uk.