Duke’s Lodge was a 1930s mansion block in Holland Park, West London which was deemed to provide a neutral or negative contribution to the heritage of the surrounding area.
MBP were appointed as structural engineers to undertake the design and detailing of the new construction of five ‘villa style’ residential properties providing 24 luxury, high quality apartments with better building materials and an understanding of the local context and attention to design.
The structural design consisted of deep contiguous piled walls and lined with concrete to replace the old imposing, grey buttresses and retaining the steep slopes of Holland Park to the south of the site and the public footpath to the east. Within these walls, a new concrete frame is erected with flat slabs supported on walls and columns providing a clean build with minimal formwork and large, open flexible interiors as is expected of contemporary apartments.
The framed structure is utilised to abut the retaining walls and provide propping and whilst temporary supported on bearing piles, the contractor was able to use a top-down construction method to excavate the Lower Ground and Basement subterranean levels accommodating car parking and pool and spa facilities for the inhabitants.
With the slab at Ground Floor suitably reinforced and temporary props in place, construction could commence horizontally and vertically concurrently, improving on the programme and allowing delivery of the completed apartments villa-by-villa. The building is clad in a masonry envelope with brickwork to the flank walls and stone mouldings fixed back the to the primary structure.
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