Lyons O'Neill

Project updates

It’s hard to believe it’s June and we’ve reached the summer. The first half of 2019 flew by, hastened by the number and range of exciting projects we’ve been working on. It’s been a privilege to continue to work in many different sectors and bring our experience and expertise to bear on some unique projects.

Recently completed projects

Adur Civic Centre

Work has recently finished at the Adur Civic Centre, a £10m development of an old car park site by Adur & Worthing Council. The project was the first undertaking by the council in a number of years and involved constructing a four-storey commercial building to provide 25,000 square foot of lettable floor space. To create this structure we used a composite steel frame with piling, taking particular car with construction sequencing and vibration, as the site lies right next to a main Network Rail line!

York House

Another prominent project we recently completed was our work at York House in Windsor. The Lyons ONeill team helped the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead refurbish and extend their council offices to increase floor space and modernise their working area. The Windsor location also introduced a number of unique and intriguing challenges as the rear of the building shared a party wall with the grounds of Windsor Castle and her Majesty the Queen, creating a special set of security considerations.

 

 

Projects underway

Reef Way SEN School

We’ve been fortunate to work on a number of fantastic education sector projects and are delighted to be working with Willmott Dixon on the £10m Reef Way Special School in Hailsham. The school is destined to provide places for 80 pupils aged between four and sixteen who have social, emotional and mental health difficulties, and work onsite is scheduled to begin this summer. Reef Way, built by East Sussex County Council, will be the first of its kind in the area, with state-of-the-art facilities for its students.

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Derry’s of Plymouth

Work is progressing well on our major conversion project of the former hotel Derry’s, in Plymouth. The client is transforming the existing building into residential accommodation and hotel rooms, whilst maintaining the commercial space on the ground floor. The development includes adding a new lightweight storey on top of the existing building, the creation of three new internal courtyards and the addition of four storeys on top of the existing co-op building: no small task! We have been working alongside the architect and contractor to develop a structural scheme which retains as much of the existing structure as possible, with seamless integration of the new elements. Our use of archive research has been integral to this project, allowing us to justify existing columns and foundation structures for the added loads and thus minimising the new work required.

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International Presbyterian Church

Branching into another sector, we’re currently working at the International Presbyterian Church in Ealing. This project involves the use of Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT), a sustainable building material growing in popularity within the industry.

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Whistlers Anew, Highgate

It’s fantastic to form strong design team partnerships and we’re excited to be working with Smerin Architects again, collaborating on Whistlers Anew in High Gate on a private residence project. The project involves the creation of a new house on the ‘Highgate Bowl’, part of the Highgate Conservation Area, which complements the existing Whistler’s Cottage on the site.

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The Paxton Building

One final new and noteworthy project we’ve been working on is the Paxton Building for client Tottenham Hotspur FC, who we previously worked for on The Lodge. The building will be created at the centre of the existing Lilywhite House and accommodate ticketing, retail and office spaces. The new Paxton Building is founded on a suspended piled concrete slab and will comprise four storeys above ground. This project is another case of using creative design solutions to fit the client’s brief. The client’s desire to reduce the visibility of linear vertical load bearing elements meant we proposed irregular column arrangements and larger spans of floor beams (partly cantilvering out on the main of the building at points), and the design also had to be blast-proof to fit with brief requirements.