NSC 15
Multi-storey car park
April 19
to the existing retail outlets and finishing
close to John Street, one of the town centre’s
busiest thoroughfares.
The three-storey cinema block was the
first structure to be erected. This building
will eventually accommodate retail outlets
on the ground floor, leisure facilities on the
first floor and the six acoustically-isolated
cinema screens on the upper double-height
level.
The structure also accommodates a
ground level service yard, which has a floor
level lower than the rest of the structure to
allow it to have more headroom for delivery
trucks.
Creating this column-free space is a
series of five 17.5m-long × 1.5m-deep plate
girders, each weighing 10t. Originally, these
members were going to be trusses, but
Hambleton changed them to plate girders as
this was considered to be a more economic
option.
The cinema is a braced structure that also
relies on moment frames for its stability.
The roof bracing is fabricated from UC
sections, as these members are said to
transmit less sound than tubular sections.
Adding some architectural interest to the
cinema’s façades, a number of cantilevering
boxes protrude from various points around
the structure.
“There is very little continuity around
the cinema block’s perimeter steelwork and
the projecting boxes add to the complexity,”
says Hambleton Steel Designer Andrew
Dobson.
“The boxes have been formed with
cantilevering beams and where a stiffer
option was needed we’ve used small
trusses.”
Separated by a movement joint, retail
block south abuts the cinema forming
one continuous 150m-long building.
Similar to the opposite 115m-long north
block, both retail structures are doubleheight
spaces with the potential to be a
two-storey structure with the addition of
a mezzanine level.
The blocks are each subdivided into
individual units, with three already
containing first floor mezzanines.
Highlighting steelwork’s flexibility, the
retail tenants can opt to keep their units
as large double-height spaces or insert
mezzanines at a later date or during the
fit-out programme.
The Marks & Spencer anchor store
measures approximately 50m × 50m and
is a two-storey structure, containing 300t
of steel, three precast staircases and three
lift shafts.
Designed around a regular grid pattern,
the majority of the anchor store’s internal
spans are 9m, allowing plenty of columnfree
retail space.
The final piece of the steel erection
process will be the three-level car park
(see box), which is due to begin this
month (April) and complete by the end
of May.
The Rochdale Riverside is scheduled to
open in April 2020.
Retail/leisure
Although Hambleton are fabricating and erecting
this structure, it has been designed by specialist
car parking consultants Hill Cannon.
The three-level structure will provide 522
parking spaces and has been designed around a standard
15.6m × 7.2m grid in order to provide unobstructed bays.
The access ramp system used is an internal vertical
circulation module (VCM), which Hill Cannon says is a
compact solution as it allows for more parking spaces within
the footprint than a more traditional split deck system.
Within a VCM, each floor slopes to create a half height rise
in its length, thereby necessitating shorter ramps between
levels. The other half-height rise is created by the structure’s
cross ramp configuration, which actually means the floors
are sloping in two directions. Each floor rises only 1:20 which
complies with regulations for the disabled and offers a
relatively flat level with full pedestrian access.
“Composite beams are used throughout as they are
more economical,” says Hill Cannon Senior Engineer Peter
Matthewman. “They support a metal decked flooring system
which has financial benefits over other floor systems and is
consequently becoming a popular solution in car parks.”
The cinema and retail
block south takes
shape
How Rochdale's latest
town centre addition
will look
One of the
six cinema
screens
/Leisure_buildings
/Trusses
/Steel_construction_products#Plate_girders
/Continuous_frames
/Concept_design#Structural_options_for_stability
/Facades_and_interfaces
/Retail_buildings
/Single_storey_industrial_buildings#Mezzanines
/Retail_buildings#Flexibility
/Concept_design#Floor_grids
/Construction#Steel_erection
/Fabrication
/Composite_construction#Types_of_composite_beam
/Floor_systems#Composite_slabs