PTA Secure Goodmans Fields Project
PTA are delighted to announce their appointment by the Berkeley Group for the design of £250m worth of prestige construction project at Goodman’s Field site in the City of London,for more information please read the report under our project portfolio page. Phil Piper Becomes An Associate of PTA
The Partners of Powell Tolner & Associates are very pleased to announce that Phil Piper is promoted to the position of Associate of Powell Tolner & Associates with immediate effect. Phil joined Powell Tolner in 2006 with a masters degree in civil engineering from Loughborough University where Phil gained a grade one pass.
After spending several years with Capita Symonds, Phil gained a wealth of experience in structural design and detailing, use of AutoCad and principles of structural engineering design. Phil joined Powell Tolner & Associates in 2006 to develop his skills and to become a full-blown project engineer.
Phil has progressed enormously since then and has more recently gained the accolade of a major client, namely the Berkeley Group, being the project engineer for a huge scheme at Caspian Wharf over a period of three years. Phil Piper is now fully conversant with the design of reinforced concrete frame buildings and particular reference to residential use, piling, basements, ground-works, procurement strategies, value engineering and all the things that a client in the modern market demands. Phil has attended design meetings, run the project, dealt with fee issues and quality control and client liaison throughout various schemes and PTA have been asked, on a number of occasions, to put Phil Piper on their jobs.
We are very pleased to announce this promotion and he is encouraged to complete his career qualification with joining the Institute of Structural Engineers very shortly.
I am sure that all the staff and partners wish him well and along with our clients will give him their best support for the continuation with his career successes.
PTA secure the New Cross reservoir site redevelopment project
PTA are delighted to be selected to be consulting civil and structural engineers by the St James Urban Living Group, part of Berkeley, to advise them and to design the engineering aspects of the redevelopment of this old historic site. Located on high ground in the south London district of Hilly Fields, and surrounded by substantial large residences. This reservoir was constructed in the late 1800’s and is now to be de-commissioned and developed for residential purposes. The intriguing history and buried structures makes the demolition, ground investigation, drainage and foundation strategies for the scheme extremely interesting and challenging and PTA are employing specialist techniques to arrive at the most financially advantageous solution and value engineered approaches. The Client, St James, has selected PTA on this particular basis bearing in mind the track history we have in seeking out economic solutions. The scheme could well have numerous risks to extortionate costs of substructures owing to the historic use and buried chambers etc. and PTA are overcoming these by use of ground improvement, stabilisation, along with strengthening and enhancement of historic brick walls around the perimeter of the site. The scheme will result in several extremely high quality and top of the range residencies valued at well over £2m each and we are pleased to be appointed for yet another scheme with the prestigious Berkeley Homes Group. Ascot Business Centre, Lyndhurst Road, Ascot
Ascot Business Park has been nominated for the 2010 design awards by the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead. This award is very much a grass roots award in that the winner is chosen by “the people” of Windsor and Maidenhead. This prestigious development has been developed and has transformed the area to the south of Ascot Railway Station. As a new Business Park, it has provided a fantastic flexible space for local people to work in with easy access and is of highly sustainable design. PTA worked closely with the design team of Darling Associates (Architects), Total Project Integration (Project Managers), Mercer & Miller (Quantity Surveyors) and the Design and Build Contractor, Marbank Construction Limited.
This successful development was a joint venture between Raspin Properties Limited and Salmon Harvester Properties Limited.
PTA are appointed by Bellway, at Poplar, East London.
PTA are pleased to have been selected as consulting civil and structural engineer by Bellway Homes for the design of a prestigious residential development comprising 490 residential apartments in four main blocks with underground car parking and commercial and community areas on the lower floors. The building ranging in height between 3 and 14 storeys is a joint venture between Bellway and the Housing Association Family Mosaic and is located on the site of the former Blessed John Roache School in Poplar and is referred to as the New Festival Quarter project. The project incorporates part of the adjacent church of St Mary and St Joseph and high-rise blocks will have green roofs and a combined heat and power station which will provide services. The structural engineering will comprise in-situ concrete, flat plate slabs to a high level of re-bar efficiency. The structure will be supported on piled foundations with stability provided by reinforced concrete cores and basement retaining walls by secant piled walls.
Commencement of construction takes place in the early part of 2011.
Expeditors Headquarters, Heathrow
VolkerFitzpatrick succeeded in winning PTA’s prestigious Headquarters building project for the USA Clients Expeditors at Heathrow.
The £14M project started on site in June 2010 and “Volker’s” won the fiercely fought competition against strong contractor opposition.
PTA offer commiseration to the unsuccessful companies which included, McLaren, Wates and Miller and the tenders demonstrated just how creative and competitive tendering is in the current climate.
PTA are Novated over to “Volkers” and wish all success to them on the interesting project
Sothend Hospital Multi-storey car park
Southend Hospital multi-storey car park has recently received a Parkmark accreditation award. PTA were proud to be involved in this project as civil and structural consulting engineers. See the Project Portfolio section of this website for more information on the Southend Hospital Project. PTA's 40th year in business
pta are pleased to announce that this year is a another major milestone for us as we celebrate our 40th year in business!
Founded in 1970 by Trevor Powell and Victor Tolner, pta was run from (and always has been) offices located in Chesham employing local staff. In the early days pta soon became known and with its steady growth gained a reputation for also being a highly competent civil and structural engineering consultancy.
Since then, with an ever increasing staff force, two further office relocations in Chesham and a fifth generation partnership later, pta have been successfully established at Red Lion Street since 1997 with a further office opening at Watermeadow, just a stones throw away, some three years ago.
The partnership would like to thank all of you who have helped make our success possible and in particular the loyalty and hard work of our employees, especially during this economic climate, and we look forward to another successful 10 years and beyond
PTA directly appointed by A2 Dominion
PTA are delighted to be chosen by RSL A2 Dominion as Consulting Engineers for the multi-million development of one of the most prestigious sites on the North Bank of the River Thames adjacent to Hammersmith Bridge. Approximately 200 high quality residential apartments will be designed on this historic site, together with commercial and community accommodation and Television studios.
The site is home to the famous Riverside Studio which broadcast the first colour television programme in the world along also with the well known series Doctor Who. Amongst other consultants are Project Managers Cyril Silver Partners and Architects Scott Browning.
PTA Emergency Response Service
PTA’s Emergency Response Service were called into action again on Sunday morning following a dramatic fire at an automotive factory in Leighton Buzzard. The fire thought to have started at a fork-lift battery charging station completely destroyed one factory unit and the immediate concerns of Hertfordshire’s Fire Department was to get PTA’s experts to give access clearance and an assessment of adjacent buildings.
Large particle defamations (up to 600mm!) were the main structural problem that PTA detailed temporary stability solutions for and organised the necessary immediate work.
PTA’s Emergency Response Service has been called upon on a number of occasions including the immediate aftermath of the Buncefield Depot explosion in Hemel Hempstead as well as a night-time call-out to the New River collapse flooding in Hornsey, North London.
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!
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. 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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