Social Housing Apartments & Social Enterprise Units, The Square, Ballyclare

Albert Fry Associates are pleased to have provided Civil and Structural Engineering consultancy services, as members of RPP Architect’s Integrated Design Team to Choice Housing Association in the delivery of social housing apartments and social enterprise units at The Square, Ballyclare. The development, located on the town centre brownfield site of a former department store, provided for thirty nine new homes for those over the age of 55, as well as a ground floor space promoting social enterprise. These energy-efficient, accessible and adaptable homes were designed to specifically meet the needs of “active elderly” residents enabling them to live independently whilst playing a central role in the local community.

Civil Engineering Challenges/Opportunities

• Complicated utility diversions
• Requisitioning of a storm line
• Attenuation of storm effluent
• Improvement works to the existing public road network

Structural Engineering Challenges/Opportunities

• Construction of a carpark basement utilising secant piled boundary retaining walls with insitu concrete internal facing all to the satisfaction of Dfi Roads TAS
• Conventional spread foundations in the form of a raft style basement floor
• Construction of an insitu concrete podium framed structure to first floor with three levels of loadbearing masonry above the podium.

project details