CONCRETE
INSPIRATIONAL PRECAST FOR NOTTINGHAM ONE
1 Nottingham One is notable for being one of the largest mixed-use developments delivered in the East Midlands in the past ten years. Concrete was selected at an early stage as the principal material for the development and offsite manufacture added a range of project benefits. As part of Nottingham City Council’s strategic vision for the city – initiated by local developer Southreef Developments – the scheme was designed by Levitate, promoted by Nottingham Regeneration Ltd, built by Willmott Dixon and occupied by the Metropolitan Housing Trust. Containing 236 apartments (100 affordable) and 5,000sq m of commercial space, this £40 million mixed-use development is the product of a coherent and singular architectural response to the needs of the city and its individuals.
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Much of this success is due to the robust, simple design concepts established at the outset, focusing on simplicity, standardisation and highquality, self-finished materials. These include a post-tensioned concrete frame with a three-storey ‘tree’ that cantilevers the scheme’s tower over the city’s buried district heating pipework and a 160m long terrace building clad in a precast concrete façade. Further efficiencies include post-tensioned concrete slabs throughout (eliminating down-stand beams and simplifying service runs) and a high-quality, modular, precast concrete façade to the street, fabricated locally by Trent Concrete.
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The precast used for cladding the building and balconies – Trent Concrete’s Portland mix – was chosen for its similarity to local Nottingham stone. From an aesthetic perspective, its use allowed for refined detailing, long spans and the formation of curves, both in plan and in elevation. On the façades, precast was used in a large-format, multi-storey panel form for external cladding. Rebated joints reflect the building’s structural grid and the module of apartments behind. The precast system allowed innovations such as projecting bay windows, where the bases were cast as part of the cladding, allowing loads to be transferred back to the frame and avoiding complicated waterproofing junctions. Along the south façade the frame opens up, using deep, precast fins with single-element balcony units spanning 6.6m between, drained via downpipes cast inside the vertical fins. Each of the pavilion apartments have thermally broken, cantilevered balcony units, with fixing points, shadow gaps and drips cast in.