New Cross Central, Far Eastern’s Consortium’s residential development in the heart of Manchester’s up and coming New Cross district, will offer urban living in a vibrant, community neighbourhood. The nine storey residential scheme will provide 82 residential units split between one and two bedroom apartments and three bedroom townhouses.  The building, which has a distinctive red brick exterior inspired by the history and character of Manchester, will surround an internal landscaped courtyard  providing dual aspect accommodation throughout with accessible roof terraces.  The apartments will be accessed by an internal cantilever walkway which wraps around the courtyard perimeter. 

Working on the design team with Hawkins\Brown, Watt Energy Consulting, Exterior Architecture, Avison Young and Turner and Townsend, we have provided structural, geotechnical, civil and transport engineering services.  We have been involved in the project since RIBA Stage 1, beginning with a detailed options appraisal that tested various structural typologies in their suitability for what is a highly constrained inner-city site.  Following this exercise, we developed a pre-cast concrete frame which will allow for efficient construction with minimal storage or laydown requirements on a very confined site.  The use of pre-cast concrete also appealed to the client and architect’s aspirations for exposed visual concrete finishes throughout.  

In addition to superstructure design, we are also providing geotechnical engineering services for the project and have gained a detailed understanding of the ground conditions on the site, as well as an understanding of the site’s history.  To inform foundation design and to arm the client with a greater understanding of project risk and costs, we have managed and coordinated extensive site investigations which have uncovered numerous buried obstructions and basements from historic developments. 

Our values of collaboration and curiosity have come through strongly on this project, particularly in relation to the requirement for a highly efficient structural frame.  This was achieved primarily through proactive collaboration with the whole design team throughout the design process.  Efficiencies were gained through structural design but also the application of different structural solutions to readily achieve high quality visual finishes where necessary. The initial design stages also required a comprehensive options review of the various structural engineering solutions for what was a highly constrained and complex site. This process identified the project specific benefits of modular and pre-cast concrete structure over in-situ alternatives.

Construction of New Cross Central is set to begin in 2020 and we’re excited to see this state-of-the-art residential scheme develop.