Graven Hill Village

Rolton was appointed in the early stages of the project to provide civil and structural engineering design services for the construction of a large area of the development creating 1,900 homes. Passport plots encompass building regulations suitable for affordable housing, through to larger properties and collective apartment complexes.

Guided by the designs made by our civil engineers, 3D modelling was used to produce the site’s balancing pond using robotic excavation. This was the first time the client had used this method and due to its success, it has been used in other areas of the site. The team also provided rationalisation of the drainage design, from the tender stage to provide efficiencies.

Design investigations also evidenced standard foundations were more suitable, we commissioned additional investigations into the soils present on site and were able to justify a reduction in the sulphate classification from DS5 to DS3 which was much more conventional providing cost savings for the client.

Our structural team has been involved in various areas, including a mixture of three and four-storey apartment blocks, with a basement level car park and commercial space. The team designed structures with reinforced concrete frames on the ground and first floor (with a transfer slab on the first floor to support upper floors) and timber frames on the upper floors. The concrete frame designs were produced as 3D models in Autodesk Revit.

During Stage 4 & 5, we undertook a rationalisation of the more conservative aspects of the Stage 3 tender design. Following this we were able to remove approximately 77 Tonnes of concrete and 13 Tonnes of reinforcement steel from the foundation design. This also had the added benefit of saving approximately 37 Tonnes of CO2 emissions.