Bouygues UK has regenerated Swansea’s city centre by building a major new high-tech, sustainable office development providing space for 600 jobs.
Located on the site of the former Oceana nightclub, 71/72 Kingsway includes 114,000 square feet of commercial floorspace, providing flexible co-working and office opportunities for innovative tech, digital and creative businesses.
The five-storey development is worth £32.6 million a year to Swansea’s economy. It features state-of-the-art digital connectivity, a roof terrace, greenery and balconies overlooking the city centre and Swansea Bay.
Two underground levels have also been included. Public access has also been enabled through a new link between 71/72 Kingsway and Oxford Street.
CHALLENGES
71/72 Kingsway was not only under construction within the busy centre of Swansea, but it is also located adjacent to the site of another project where a new 16 storey building was being constructed. Built less than a mile from Swansea Bay, the project was also subject to the winds from the Bristol channel.
Given the locational factors mentioned above, coupled with the size of the site at 71/72 Kingsway, the project presented a number of complexities that our expert team had to navigate:
- The footprint of the project was only 2100m2, with no external storage space available outside of this area.
- The first 2 storeys were built within an existing basement of the building previously situated at the now construction site.
- Bouygues UK was required to preserve the four existing retaining walls during construction until the ground floor slab was complete.
- New and existing temporary steel props were installed to retain these existing walls. The props had to be carefully located to ensure that the piles, pile caps and slabs could still be installed in between the props.
- With only one means of access onto the site for deliveries, the team was fully dependent on tower cranes and hoists for distribution of materials.
- All concrete was special finish, which requires immense attention to detail and additional measures to ensure none of the concrete is aesthetically contaminated.
Sustainability & Social Value
As part of its work on the build, Bouygues UK worked with and supported local voluntary organisations, providing training, work placements and opportunities for local people, in addition to significant supply chain opportunities for local businesses.
The site team at 71/72 Kingsway was extremely motivated to find as many ways as possible to reduce any negative impact on the environment.
As part of our commitment to sustainability and social value, we also installed our Wall of Kindness as well as working directly with the community on a number of other initiatives.
Offices and commercial
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