The Clockworks, Manchester

Located in a prominent position on Princess Road, Manchester, The Clockworks development brought 105 new apartments to the area accommodated in an L-shaped brick clad medium rise apartment building with car parking also provided on site. As an architectural feature, the building height was seen to step between 5 storeys and 4 storeys at various locations across the building footprint. Double height reception spaces were provided with feature canopies, columns and glazing panels to provide an appealing aesthetic.

Owing to the ground conditions on site and history of industrial usage, a piled foundation solution was adopted with CFA piles socketed into the sandstone below. Loads are transferred into the piles with use of in-situ reinforced ground beams spanning between the piles with continuity reinforcement provided to increase the efficiency of the designs. The building superstructure is formed from lightweight metal framing and composite metal deck flooring, with hot rolled steelwork provided locally as required. The building envelope is of composite construction, with an SFS inner leaf and brickwork outer leaf. Bespoke bracketed lintel designs were provided at openings to allow for column free spans at entrances to the building.

SuDS were adopted to manage stormwater run-off from the site, with use of a strategically placed attenuation tank beneath the car park to protect the surrounding drainage network from overload during periods of increased rainfall. Further civil engineering works were undertaken in the form of iterative earthworks cut and fill exercises which considered the volume of all drainage and foundations arisings when determining the optimum finished site and building levels.