Barbara Ralph completes Marathon
PTA's Barbara Ralph completed the London Marathon on 13th April in a time of 3hrs 19mins 56secs. This was her fastest time for several years and is her last London Marathon in her current age group. She moves up an age group next year. Results are very provisional at the moment but early indications are that she has finished very high up in her age group. Photograph was taken at around 24 miles. Prestigious Residential Development
PTA are pleased to be appointed by St James Group Plc as Consulting Civil and Structural Engineers for the design of this prestigious residential development on the North bank of the River Thames adjacent to Chelsea Bridge. The project comprises 4 blocks of up to 13 storeys in height with underground basement carparking below, providing a mix of Housing Association affordable residential units and high-specification private residential apartments, together with commercial space and a Health Centre amenity area and also a Local Authority Street-Sweepers Depot.
The project will be designed utilising reinforced concrete framework with flat-plate slabs and incorporating high levels of sustainability and low-carbon footprint. The project is also designed to bridge over the route of future crossrail subterranean tunnels, and the design, therefore, provides for deep bored piling and a detailed ground movement analysis has been required to ensure the future tunnelling procedures are catered for.
The project is due to commence on site in January 2008 and will be completed by December 2010. -----------------another prestigious job that PTA are the appointed Consulting Engineers for-------Rydon Construction is gearing up to start work in September on a £129m regeneration deal in north London.
In tandem with Hyde Housing and following a master plan worked up by architect PTE, with civil and structural engineering by Powell Tolner & Associates, the job centres on transforming the run-down Packington housing estate in Islington.
The programme is to build 538 affordable homes, plus 301 flats for private sale.
Also planned for the 58,197m2 site is a community centre, shops and an adventure playground.
The focus of the revamped site will be the construction of two new interconnected squares to replace the present unsatisfactory communal gardens, a network of restored squares, including the historic Union Square, and a park running the full length of the site, which is adjacent to the Regent’s Canal.
The project will be divided into six phases over a period of almost nine years. The thinking behind this is to minimise disruption during construction and to allow residents to move into their new homes as soon as they are built.
The first phase of the scheme will focus on the canal side area.
The project will also feature environmental friendly measures such as combined heat and power plant and the use of biomass to achieve the Greater London Authority’s requirement for 10% renewable energy.
The decision to revamp Packington was taken after a structural survey of the 1970’s built estate revealed that it failed to meet current building regulations.
19 Storey Hotel in City of London
PTA are pleased to be successful in their appointment as Civil & Structural Engineers on behalf of Global Grange Limited for a new 19 storey hotel in the heart of the City of London at Prescot Street.
This prestigious development involves a deep basement of 3 storeys, above which are constructed twin asymmetrical towers, one of 16 storeys and one of 12, with concrete-framed construction and transfer floors, for which it is planned to use the state-of-the-art form of slab construction using biaxial in situ hollow core.
This historic site has complexities within the grounds involving a thorough six-month archaeological investigation where PTA will be closely involved in highway-retaining structures, and also during World War 2 this site was recorded to be in the centre of the most heavily bombed part of the city and PTA are involved with bomb-clearance specialists, as the expectations are to find some unexploded devices.
The substantial basements will also create ground movements during excavation and into the long term, all of which will be analysed by finite elements to establish the effects on the surrounding tunnels, tube line and historic old brittle surfaces.
Yet another exciting project for PTA’s engineers to get their teeth into!
PTA receive Concrete Society AwardPTA received a commendation in the 2006 Concrete Society Awards, Building Category for Playgolf at Northwick Park, Harrow
The entire 4000m2 building is constructed of cast-in-situ concrete, almost entirely using the concrete as the finish to floors, soffits and built-in furnishings. By using a combination of standard in-situ concrete in a variety of finishes and higher-quality precast elements, an excellent overall effect has been achieved. Services have been contained in the concrete, helping to create a calm, unified building by keeping visual clutter to a minimum.
The reaction of the public using this building has been uniformly enthusiastic.
The Project is a joint development between the London Borough of Brent and private developer Playgolf Limited to develop a unique ‘pay and play’ commercial golf centre in an urban setting.
The dramatic concrete structure eliminates any of the preconceptions of formality and tradition associated with the sport. This was a key determinant in choosing concrete for the project.
The building is exceptional in that it uses concrete in such a wide variety of ways within a single project, combined to afford economy of construction and quality of environment.
See "Projects Portfolio" for more details.
Heathrow South Cargo Centre
PTA are pleased to announce their success in being appointed as Consulting Civil and Structural Engineers by Expeditors International (UK) Ltd for the design of Expeditors’ main headquarters and freight transfer warehouses at Ascot Road, Feltham, which is immediately south of Heathrow Airport.
This is a £multi-million development comprising 300,000 sq ft of hi-tech cargo warehousing along with 80,000 sq ft of top-grade offices, together with multi-storey car parking and cargo transfer facilities. The site is a 17 acre plot previously owned by British Airports Authority and used as part of the Terminal 5 construction team logistics.
PTA’s success in securing this appointment was based upon their demonstration of a high degree of value-engineering approaches to design, along with their extensive track record in airport cargo facility designs, such as Stanstead Airport and Luton Airport.
The scheme commences on site in January 2007. The scheme Architect is Lewis & Hickey, who promoted the involvement of PTA as engineers. The scheme Quantity Surveyor is Atkins Faithful & Gould, who also have extensive experience in the same area, along the M & E Consultant, Cudd Bentley.
Expeditors are a world-renowned company specialising in heavy manufactured goods distribution throughout the world and are primarily an American-owned operation. Items of cargo transfer include the smallest of microchip components up to massive items, such as the jet engines of a 777 Boeing aircraft.
Photograph (c) FreeFoto.com
Folkestone Central Area Redevelopment
PTA along with their client, Bride Hall Developments, Warner & Asda have assisted in getting this project onto site - the largest and most exciting regeneration that Folkestone has seen in many years.
PTA are the civil and structural engineer on this project development and are proud to be associated with this prestigious project for their client.
See "project portfolio" for more info. Career Opportunities at PTAProject Engineer (Structures).
The candidate will need to be able to run projects from inception to completion, have a good structural design background, good communication skills and have a proven track record of providing customer care.
The candidate is likely to be Chartered or very nearly with at least 5 years post graduation experience.
The candidate should have wider skills and knowledge in the following areas:
Site investigations – geotechnical, environmental, topographical, appraisal of existing buildings.
Civil Engineering – pavement design, drainage, highway engineering
CAD Technician (Structures).
The candidate will need to be able to prepare general arrangement and detailed drawings for structural steelwork, concrete, timber and masonry using AutoCad version 2000 or later, have a basic understanding of building construction together with good communication skills. Drawings produced by the candidate will need to be done with minimal supervision from the Engineers and be accurately produced from other consultants drawings, engineers sketches etc.
The candidate is likely to have previous experience in the civil or structural engineering discipline preferably with RC detailing experience.
Graduate/Intermediate Civil Engineer (Civils)
The candidate should have a basic knowledge of civil engineering and basic IT skills although training will be available in the use of AutoCAD, Office and bespoke civil/structural design software as required.
Graduate/Intermediate Structural Engineer - 2+ years design office experience
The candidate should have a basic knowledge of structural engineering and basic IT skills although training will be available in the use Office and bespoke structural design software as required.
Please e-mail your CV to central@ptaconsult.co.uk with recruitment listed in the subject heading.
PTA comply with all statutory legislation in respect of race relations & equal opportunities employment. Thinnest Slabs Possible by Post-tensioningPTA continue to be regularly appointed by specialist post-tensioning contractor, Strongforce, to carry out detailed designs for their flat slab solutions to residential, office and commercial structures throughout the UK and Ireland.
PTA, historically, have been designing post-tensioned concrete for some 15 years and were originally involved in the authorship of the post-tensioned design code TR17. Current computer software includes the use of “FLOOR” by finite elements and RAPT. Current commissions include
· the mixed use development at Maynooth in Ireland which amounts to some £300m worth of construction project,
· the Sentinel office building of 13 storeys in Liverpool,
· the 9 residential 10 storey buildings at Rosebank, Edinburgh for Barratt Homes
· and the PFI scheme for 2 LA schools in Swindon, Wiltshire.
All schemes involved flat slab construction with slab thickness of between 200mm and a maximum of 250mm. All utilised bonded PT tendons with reinforcement bar as minimal requirements of between 8kg/m2 and 12 kg/m2.
This demonstrates PTA’s continued commitment to value engineering solutions.
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