Retail
Steel drives car
showroom design
Steel construction has proven to be
the correct framing solution for the
Williams Group’s £41M flagship
retail centre for BMW, MINI, Land
Rover and Jaguar vehicles.
The high-profile location of the
showroom, adjacent to the Trafford Centre,
Manchester, was selected by the company
because it met its exacting requirements for
a prominent site which it says will set new
standards in vehicle retail and service.
Situated on a 14.3-acre plot, formerly
occupied by a container base, the project
includes three steel-framed showrooms and
associated workshop structures, as well as a
large steel-framed car wash building.
Main contractor Caddick Construction
started on site last June and is due to
complete in June 2019.
“With such a short and tight programme,
steelwork is the ideal framing solution for
this job. It gives us the required speed of
construction to get the structures up quickly,
which then allows all of the follow-on trades
to get started early,” says Caddick Contracts
Manager Richard Gaukrodger. “There are
also some long spans in the buildings and
these are easily formed with steelwork.”
Once on site, Caddick’s initial task was
to demolish a few small office buildings
and then undertake a ground improvement
programme.
The entire site was covered with a concrete
slab, which was deemed to be unsuitable for
the new construction. It was dug up in the
areas where new structures were to be built,
and the ground was then vibro-compacted.
However, much of the slab has been retained
in areas which will be given over to exterior
parking lots within the new scheme.
The ability to create long clear spans, as well as its speed of
construction, are some of the reasons why steelwork is the ideal
framing solution for car showrooms.
The BMW and MINI
showroom
14 NSC
February 19
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