Project Hercules
Confidential Location
- Sectors
- Manufacturing, Commercial
- Status
- In Progress
- Client
- Confidential
- Delivery Partners
- Frank Shaw Associates, Turner and Townsend, TSL
- Our Services
- Civil, Structural, Engineering, Flood Risk, Section Agreements
Dice provided civil and structural engineering design services throughout RIBA Stages 3 to 6. Our services included detailed design of cost-effective private drainage networks, including separate surface water, foul, and trade effluent systems.
Project Hercules comprises a 12,000m² single-storey building incorporating production, office, and research facilities, as well as over 8,000m² of service yard and 7,000m² of on-site parking. The site also incorporates two new site accesses and internal private highways, sustainable drainage features, and soft landscaping. New site accesses were secured via Section 278 agreements, including improvements to existing highway networks.
Sustainable Drainage and Earthworks Strategy
The SuDS hierarchy was considered, with a combination of permeable paving, swales, and drainage basins providing on-site attenuation and water quality treatment, with restricted discharge to a watercourse. Our team completed detailed earthworks cut-and-fill modelling in order to optimise site levels and minimise the requirement for net import/export of materials.
Highway Infrastructure and Vehicle Access
We also planned internal highway networks to ensure efficient vehicle manoeuvring, verified via tracking, and produced detailed highway construction information, including horizontal and vertical alignment and pavement design.
Value Engineering and Ground Improvement
We saved our client money by value engineering substructure solutions to avoid the need for piled foundations. This was achieved via the specification of lime/cement stabilisation to improve CBRs, facilitating ground-bearing slabs and reducing pavement sub-base thickness. Vibro-stone compaction beneath buildings removed the requirement for piled bases, facilitating a simple reinforced pad foundation solution.
Flood Risk and Sustainability
Flood risk assessments were completed in support of a planning application, with the site located within flood zones 2 and 3. LEED Platinum and net-zero carbon in operation were key elements of the brief.