University of Birmingham Mason

Bell & Webster

The former Mason accommodation in the city’s leafy

Edgbaston district has been demolished and a new

development has been built in its place to house more

than 800 students.

The student accommodation has dropped the “hall”

tag and is known only as “Mason” to distinguish it

from old-fashioned halls of residences.

Mason has been designed to provide high quality

contemporary student residencies of varying storey

heights. The development is fully sympathetic to

the existing registered landscape, enhancing and

complimenting existing views, retaining the concept

of the backdrop, whilst providing containment and

allowing glimpses to and from the lake.

The lake in the centre of the Vale provides the focus to

the design, the building in the form of ripples emanating

from the lake forms terraces and protected gardens

within the landscape. This provides the opportunity to

carefully blend the new development with the existing

landscape.

design and appearance

Norwest Holst won the two-stage tender process to build the

£36M development. Many frame alternatives were reviewed by the

design team. Norwest Holst with its novated Architect, Structural

Engineer and Mechanical & Electrical Engineer, Aedas Architects

Ltd, DTA Consultants Ltd and Couch Perry Wilkes respectively,

demonstrated through life cycle costing that a precast scheme

offered the best value for money. The Contractor awarded the

contract to Bell & Webster for its “RoomSolutionsTM” precast

concrete panel system.

The projectThe layout of each flat consists of three study/bedrooms on each

side of a corridor, opening out to a full width kitchen/dining area.

Bell & Webster’s panels are used for the party walls between each

study/bedroom and for the external “window” walls. Internal

doors are added later. Floor slabs span between the internal

party walls, and all loads go through these walls, rather than

the external panels. The panels are cast horizontally on tilting

tables so no stress is put into them during manufacture, they

are then transported to site and lifted directly from the lorry into

position.

delivering excellence

During the seven months spent on site Bell & Webster

erected 2,847 individual units. Although there is considerable

repetition, there are 10 different types of window walls,

three different gable wall designs, four internal party walls

and 22 different floor slabs. The largest individual units are

the window walls, which are 150mm thick, 2.45m high,

9.25m long and up to 7t in weight. Each of these walls span

across the front of three study/bedrooms. Bell & Webster has

designed a special lifting beam that enables these panels to

be lifted straight up, rather than using chains that meet at an

apex in the centre.

Erection follows a regular sequence, starting with Norwest

Holst’s groundworks subcontractor laying the ground floor

slab to the level required and the steel subcontractor erecting

the steel gable ends for each of the six blocks designed to

provide for lateral restraint. Anything over three storeys high

– which is all the blocks at Mason – requires starter bars of

reinforcement cast into the slab along what will be the centre

line of each party wall. These slot into oval-shaped holes cast

through the full height of the panels.

A pre-mixed, high strength mortar bed is laid on the slab to

provide a seal, and the first party wall panel lifted into place.

The panels are then propped until the window walls have been

joined on. Lateral stability is provided by the steel gable ends. The

panels are connected to the party walls by a series of overlapping

loops, which are married up and then permanently connected by

threading reinforcing bars through them. The joint between the

two walls is then grouted to make the final seal.

The level at the top of each panel is then measured ready for the

next floor slab to be placed on top. When this is in place, it is

connected to the party wall panels by threading four rebar ties all

the way through the holes cast into the concrete to overlap with

the starter bar steel.

Bell & Webster uses a high strength fluid grout for all the joints,

while the panels themselves are made from 60N concrete.

Internal layouts in the accommodation blocks are fairly repetitive,

with one flat of study/bedrooms and kitchen/diners sitting directly

on top of another. There are, though, a few variations on the

design, including rooms accessible by students in wheelchairs.

These are formed by taking two standard rooms and forming

a large opening in the party wall to enable wide doors and a

larger bathroom to be fitted. Each block also includes some

“future-proof” rooms, in which the central portion of the party

wall can be removed easily if it needs to be converted into such

an accessible room at a later date.

Despite being non-load bearing, the window walls are very heavily

reinforced compared to the party walls, because they have been

designed to accommodate considerable window space. Each

study/bedroom has two windows, one the perfect height for

looking out of the window whilst sitting at a desk, and the other

at traditional standing height.

All the blocks are being clad in timber veneer rainscreen

panels that are fixed on an external insulated support system

fixed to the precast units once they are in place. The cladding

has a natural cedar veneer that has been chosen to blend

in with the local, wooded landscape, and internal crescent gables

are clad in architectural blockwork.

innovativeinnovative

delivering excellence

! Fair faced finish to walls and ceiling minimised the need for drylining or suspended ceilings and wet trades

! Conduit cast into slabs not walls

! Good acoustic rating

! Speed of construction

! Following trades can commence on the lower floors as the upper floors are being erected

! Toilet pods installed as frame erected

! Safe access at all times

! Designed to avoid progressive collapse

The BenefitsThe BenefitsThe Benefits

A member of the Eleco Group plc

Bell & Webster Concrete Limited, Alma Park Road, Grantham, Lincs. NG31 9SETel: (01476) 562277 Fax: (01476) 562944 Email: bellandwebster@eleco.com

Web: www.bellandwebster.co.uk Cad: cad.bellandwebster@eleco.com

Our range of products is constantly under review. Data relating to new products will be issued when available. We reserve the right to amend our specifications. September 2011.

Bell & Webster