Springfield Place, Maidstone

Sectors: Residential
Status: In Progress
Services: Civil, Structural
Client: Maidstone Borough Council
Project Value: £40 million

Dice was appointed by Maidstone Borough Council to provide Civil and Structural Engineering Consultancy services for a new £40m residential scheme, constructed on the site of the former Springfield Library.

Springfield Place comprises the development of an unused brownfield site following the demolition of Kent County Council, Springfield Library. The project includes the construction of two residential apartment blocks totalling 107 units with a central plaza accessed off Chatham Road. A basement carpark is accessed off Sandling Road/Radnor Close, providing a total of 68 car parking spaces and secure cycle storage. The two carefully sculpted blocks have been designed to reflect adjacent massing and key views across Maidstone. Block A to the north of the site is tiered with two, four and six storey elements which contains a total of 35 apartments of one, two and three bedrooms all with balconies.

Block B to the south of the site is also tiered with six, eight and ten storey elements which contains a total of 72 apartments of one, two and three bedrooms all with balconies. These two blocks have been positioned to frame and provide a new visual connectivity of the grade II listed Springfield House from Chatham Road. The landscape comprises of soft and hard landscape with an area of enhanced woodland to the south, accessible paths and steps improving access across the site, ragstone retaining walls with new trees, sustainable urban drainage systems and a series of biodiverse roofs.

CGI renders by Bond Bryan Architects

Structural Solutions
A single storey basement car park is formed from reinforced concrete retaining walls, columns and a podium slab.

Reinforced concrete flat slabs supported by reinforced concrete columns and walls provide an efficient structural solution for the two tower blocks. The central stair and lift cores provide vertical support to slabs, as well as lateral stability to the buildings.

Piled foundations and reinforced concrete pile caps support the superstructure elements.

Sustainable Drainage Solutions
In order to reduce flood risk both on site, and downstream to sewers and rivers, a surface water drainage system has been specified incorporating SuDS solutions which attenuate storm water on site, slowing discharge to public sewers.

Green and blue roofs have been provided to attenuate surface water run off at source. Green roofs provide biodiversity and water quality treatment, which when adopted in conjunction with shallow attenuation crates, restricts discharge of water to less than 1 litre/sec from each roof surface.

At ground level, a series of initiatives have been adopted to improve water quality and slow discharge of runoff from the site during severe storm events, including permeable paving, permeable subbases, tanks and swales.