Leisure/retail
Drake leisure scheme
sails into port
How the cinema block
will look
16 NSC
September 18
Big changes are afoot in Plymouth as
the city is in the midst of a multimillion
pound revamp of its central
shopping districts
The five-year scheme aims to transform
this key location to make sure it looks its best
in time for the Mayflower 400 celebrations,
which will see thousands of tourists descend
on the city in 2020 to commemorate the
sailing of the Pilgrim Fathers to America in
1620.
A number of schemes are currently under
way and one of the largest is the £35M Drake
Circus leisure development, which is set to
transform a former bus station site into a key
gateway entrance to Plymouth City centre.
Named in honour of the city’s most
famous seafarer and explorer Sir Francis
Drake, the Circus is already the location
for a large shopping centre and the new
development will complement these existing
facilities.
Construction work is being carried
out by McLaren Construction, with BHC
fabricating, supplying and erecting 2,700t of
structural steelwork for the main frame of the
scheme.
The development, which is set to open in
Autumn 2019, will be 9,200m2 and comprises
a 12-screen Cineworld cinema, 15 restaurants
and bars, including a sky bar above the
cinema to capture stunning views of the city
and its coastline, retail units as well as 420 car
park spaces.
The scheme is one large steel frame,
measuring 130m-long × 50m-wide at its
largest point. The frame is braced and
typically makes use of crossed flat vertical
bracings to provide lateral stability in
conjunction with composite floor decks and
roof bracing.
“In some locations, we have utilised struts
in place of crossed flats to accommodate
circulation routes. At ground floor retail level,
we were very limited in locations for bracing.
As a result, we agreed with the architect and
the client that a bay of feature bracing would
be located within the walkway at podium
level,” says Evolve Consulting Engineers
Project Engineer Margaret Hanway.
“BHC has worked with the architect to
produce some bespoke connection details for
this braced bay which makes a real feature of
this part of the structure that will be exposed
in the final scheme.”
The project’s footprint sits below an
existing viaduct that supports Exeter Street
along the site’s northern elevation. Access
to the development along this street will be
at podium level, while to the south along
Bretonside access is gained at lower ground
level.
Below the podium three levels of car
parking are accommodated at lower ground
floor and upper ground. In between these
two steel-framed levels, a middle car parking
level has been introduced into the scheme
by converting an area under the viaduct
which previously housed shops and spaces
associated with the bus station.
The podium deck supports a five-storey
cinema block, which also accommodates
retail outlets, a separate two-storey restaurant
block and a pedestrian public realm.
Because of the mixed-use nature of the
development there is no regular grid pattern
to the steelwork. As well as incorporating
the varying columns lines, one of the main
design challenges was to minimise transfer
structures without compromising the quality
of the retail or car parking spaces.
Within the car parking levels, the grid
is based on 7.7m by 7.2m or 9.6m in order
to suit a three or four-bay car parking
configuration. At retail level the grid is loosely
based on a 7m or 8m square grid, while at
cinema level the grid is driven by the shape
of the auditoria with columns placed at the
corners and around the perimeter of the
auditoria at locations to suit the retail and car
parking below.
Although the design team worked hard
to minimise the amount transfer structures,
some were required.
“We have located the majority of transfer
beams at podium level where there is suitable
structural depth. Due to the presence of a
deep build-up of insulation and finishes to
the podium, we have been able to raise the
top of the steelwork of many of the transfer
beams to suit the structural level, which has
allowed us to maximise the structural zone
available,” adds Ms Hanway.
In places, plate girders as opposed to
standard UB sections have been used to
maintain the clear heights required below.
By working closely with BHC, Evolve
says it was able to utilise some wide flange
European Sections which allowed it to
minimise the number of bespoke steel
sections, which also benefitted costs and
programme.
Demolition work on the site was
completed by the end of December 2017,
and this then allowed the erection of the steel
frame to commence early this year.
BHC began its steel programme by
erecting the cinema block and the lower levels
directly beneath it. This is the tallest part of
the scheme, rising to a maximum height of
35m above the Bretonside street level.
“Starting with this part of the frame
allowed our cladding contractor to get started
as soon as possible, by following on directly
Offering 12 cinema screens and a host of retail and restaurant
outlets, the Drake Circus leisure development is set to transform
the site of a previously outdated bus station. Martin Cooper
reports from Plymouth.
FACT FILE
Drake Circus
development,
Plymouth
Main Client:
British Land
Architect: Corstorphine
+ Wright
Main contractor:
McLaren Construction
Structural engineer:
Evolve Consulting
Engineers
Steelwork contractor:
BHC
Steel tonnage: 2,700t
/Leisure_buildings
/Retail_buildings#Shopping_centres
/Construction
/Fabrication
/Leisure_buildings#Theatres_and_auditoria
/Braced_frames
/Concept_design#Structural_options_for_stability
/Braced_frames#Horizontal_bracing
/Braced_frames#Vertical_bracing
/Car_parks
/Concept_design#Floor_grids
/Leisure_buildings#Theatres_and_auditoria
/Design
/Steel_construction_products#Plate_girders
/Construction#Steel_erection
/Building_envelopes