A number of challenges have been overcome to erect a steel-framed student
accommodation scheme that shares a constrained site with a Grade-A listed church spire.
12 NSC
January 19
Aberdeen’s student population,
which is estimated to stand at
more than 21,000, is set to receive
an accommodation boost once a
prestigious and highly-challenging scheme
in the city centre completes in late 2019.
Known as the Triple Kirks, the project
comprises three interlinked blocks (11,
12 and 13-storeys high), offering 337 ensuite
accommodation units and ancillary
facilities, that occupy a constrained site with
a Grade-A listed church spire dating from
the 1840s.
The spire once served three separate
churches (kirks), hence the Triple Kirks
name. These structures fell into disrepair a
long time ago and, when developer Dandara
purchased the site, only the protected spire
remained.
Alongside the construction programme,
restoration and refurbishment work is also
being undertaken to the spire so that it
will become a feature element within the
completed development.
Initially planned as a Grade-A office
building, changing market conditions led the
landmark scheme to be changed into highend
student accommodation, helping to
deliver a key element of the city’s new master
plan – by providing the chance to live as well
as work and study in the city centre.
Dandara says the commercial property
market remains strong in Aberdeen and it
continues to invest heavily in commercial
development throughout the region. Within
the city core however the dynamic has
changed.
The company adds that its flexibility and
market-leading capability as a premium
housebuilder allowed it to review the plans
and re-approach this iconic site to deliver a
development that will benefit the city.
The Triple Kirks’ apartments will
regenerate the former religious site and fit
seamlessly with Aberdeen City Council’s
vision for the rejuvenation of the Denburn
valley area. At the same time, it will deliver
a vital boost in the availability of academic
accommodation – as Aberdeen has been
suffering from a critical shortfall for decades.
Explaining the design, Dandara
Engineering Director Greg Kerwick
says: “The project was always going to be
steel-framed, whether an office or student
accommodation. On a tight and constrained
site like this steel has the advantage of being
fabricated offsite. This results in far less
material on the footprint as it is brought to
site and erected immediately. It is also quick
to erect which is something we like.”
Altering the design from a commercial
office block to a residential building did
however mean a rethink of the steel frame.
The office was conceived as a braced frame,
but the accommodation blocks’ design
contains many more windows along each
elevation, meaning there is no room for
traditional cross bracing.
The solution was to install three jumpformed
concrete cores, one for each of the
conjoined blocks, and use these for the
overall structural stability instead of bracing.
Radiating out from the cores, the floors
are then formed with a composite design
using metal decking and a concrete topping
supported on steel beams.
Prior to steelwork contractor EvadX
starting on-site, Dandara had prepared the
site by installing the concrete cores and pad
foundations, demolishing some remaining
church walls, and importantly constructing
a 10m-high CFA piled retaining wall along
three sides of the site’s footprint.
The site sits at the bottom of a slope with
ground level access from the B986 dual
carriageway, one lane of which has been
closed to create a delivery yard. To the north
and east of the site, Schoolhill and a smaller
thoroughfare, Belmont Street, are actually
10m higher, with the former road becoming
a viaduct as it crosses the dual carriageway
below.
This means that what is essentially
ground floor level is referred to as Level -3,
with ground being the main entrance along
Schoolhill.
How to support the retaining wall during
the construction process was another
challenging aspect of the scheme due to
the confined nature of the plot. Once the
steel frame, which ties into the wall for its
three lowest levels, is complete, the wall has
Residential
Inspired design
FACT FILE
Triple Kirks, Aberdeen
Main client: Dandara
Architect:
Halliday Fraser Munro
Main contractor:
Dandara
Structural engineer:
Dandara
Steelwork contractor:
EvadX
Steel tonnage: 600t
/Residential_and_mixed-use_buildings#Student_residences
/Construction
/Multi-storey_office_buildings
/Multi-storey_office_buildings
/Braced_frames
/Fabrication
/Design
/Residential_and_mixed-use_buildings
/Braced_frames#Vertical_bracing
/Concept_design#Concrete_or_steel_cores
/Concept_design#Structural_options_for_stability
/Composite_construction