CASE STUDY SHELL STORE
Historic Estate Gets Timber Pod Makeover
Quattro Design Architects
The Shell Store on Hereford’s Rotherwas Industrial Estate lay derelict for more than 50 years. It is being brought back to life with the use of highly insulated and airtight timber pods.
A
s an ‘enterprise zone’, Skylon Park was keen to bring the
allow for curved walls and meet the structural, thermal, fire, acoustic and
building back into productive economic use. Following
airtight criteria. Building within a building also proved challenging on many
a £7.3 million redevelopment, The Shell Store is newly
fronts, including low ceilings; lifting heavy panels without cranes; distributing
refurbished into a modern business incubation and
materials and working in a confined area with other trades.
innovation centre. Andrew Manning Cox, Chair of the Hereford Enterprise Zone, said:
High Performance Solution
“The Shell Store offers exactly the sort of high-quality start-up and grow-on
To aid both the design and build process, the timber frame panels
space which Hereford needs to enable us to nurture the next generation of
were designed as small as possible. This helped create the curved walls
businesses. It offers high-spec working space at the heart of Skylon Park’s
and made the panels more manageable, which was critical given the
thriving business community and is surrounded by companies with national
restricted access. Taylor Lane employed top-hung Posi-Joists to achieve
and international reputations in the defence and security and cyber
the long spanning roofs of each pod. With any large openings or full-
technologies sector.”
height glazing, steel beams were installed to afford flexibility. The timber
Having played a considerable role in WWI and WWII, the building was of historical merit and considered worthy of retention. 2,500sqm of lettable
pods are highly insulated and airtight, achieving a U-value of 0.22 w/m2K, essentially acting as external envelopes within the building.
business space has been created within the existing building footprint,
“The approach to timber frame resulted in higher levels of energy
housed within insulated timber frame pods to retain much of the original
efficiency, lower carbon emissions and lower maintenance costs. At the
factory, including its iconic steel roof structure. Taylor Lane was tasked with
same time, the timber frame increased The Shell Store’s adaptability,
delivering seven single-storey pods, each differing in shape, size and layout.
durability, and resilience,” concludes Mike. The Shell Store was officially
The company worked closely with main contractor, Barnwood Construction.
opened by Robert Jenrick, former Secretary of State Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), earlier this summer.
Biggest Challenge
More at www.taylor-lane.co.uk
“Once it had been decided that the building was worthy of retention,” says Mike Court, director of Quattro Design Architects. “The primary challenge was the limited clearance between the concrete slab to the underside of the steel frame. This heavily dictated the approach to design, servicing, and buildability of the interior spaces. The strategy considered a variety of approaches however, the most appropriate was the insertion of a timber frame within the open plan structure. Early subcontractor engagement was crucial, enabling value for money and buildable solutions to be tried and tested in mock-ups.” Using its 140mm timber frame system with 100mm rigid polyurethane insulation, alongside Posi-Joists and steel supports, Taylor Lane designed and manufactured the timber frame for each pod, in-house – just a stone’s throw from The Shell Store. The company then also managed the erection
Quattro Design Architects
of the kits onsite. The timber frame design had to work inside a building,
Timber Construction Magazine
Winter 2021
14
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