Client: Barola / TSL Projects
DBFL provided civil, structural and transportation engineering services from feasibility to construction stage on this large-scale automated Distribution Centre. The base build reached practical completion in February 2023 and DBFL are currently providing structural engineering services for the fit out of the automated warehouse, office space and ancillary buildings.
The Distribution Centre incorporates office floor space and ancillary buildings including a Recovery Recycling Unit (RRU) Building, a Pallet Storage Building, and a Security Gatehouse with a cumulative gross floor area (GFA) of approx. 64,550 sq.m. The scheme includes for 110 no. HGV parking bays, 201 no. car parking spaces and 40 no. bicycle parking spaces.
DBFL’s multidisciplinary team developed the site layout in conjunction with the wider design team of Architects and Landscape Architects to provide an efficient design within the site to minimize excessively long access roads and hard standing areas while maximising landscape areas and SUDs throughout the site. DBFL designed for all associated infrastructure including foul drainage, surface water drainage including a comprehensive SUDs strategy and water supply services.
The main building is a 310m long x 145m wide x 20m high steel portal frame fabricated with 5 spans over the building width. The main frame includes 2 levels of mezzanines for office, goods handling and plant use at one end of the building. The floor was designed as a fibre mesh slab supported on driven precast concrete piles at 2.66m centres to minimise settlements below the high bay automated goods storage and retrieval system. The frame was designed to limit sway movements to approximately 60% of a traditional portal frame.
A significant challenge encountered was balancing the earthworks on site to facilitate zero export of soils and minimise import of granular material. DBFL developed a strategy with the design team to stabilize the piling platform, roads and hardstanding to reuse excavated material and set the building level sufficiently high to accommodate the balance of excavated material. Landscape bunds were proposed to screen the warehouse building while also accommodating excess material.
Stringent tolerances were required of the build in terms of dimensional accuracy and limiting movement of the frame and slab under design loading which were driven by the requirements of the automated racking system within the warehouse building. DBFL’s structural design was developed in accordance with these stringent movement and dimensional tolerances.
In order to avoid excessive haulage of material from site, and subsequent importing of granular fill, DBFL proposed the stabilisation of low bearing capacity deposits encountered in the upper strata on site, to form the piling platform under the warehouse. The material underlying hardstanding, car parking and roads were also stabilised to reduce capping thickness and export of material from site.
Other sustainable initiatives undertaken were to construct a portion of the car parking using grasscrete to promote infiltration of surface water and lessen the visial impact of large hardstanding areas.
Project Director