Crown Place
The Crown Place (formally St Stephens Towers) project is a significant £45m development, creating student accommodation in the heart of Norwich. The project involved the extensive refurbishment and alterations of the existing concrete framed structures, together with the vertical extension to form additional accommodation.
Canham Consulting’s involvement was focused upon the enabling and temporary works, which was a critical part of this development. We led the design for a steel subframe structure throughout the tower, which has provided essential transfer support for the proposed access scaffold positioned to the perimeter of the buildings. This transfer structure relied upon the existing structure, with all loads transferred to certain key elements, which were assessed throughout and monitored as the loading criteria evolved.
The original building is a reinforced concrete frame, originally constructed in the 1960’s. At ground floor level, there are several shops, which needed to be maintained and remain in operation throughout the course of the works. Norwich Bus Station is immediately to the rear of the site, which presented operational challenges.
Together with the lack of available space on the site, and the presence of the highway very close on St Stephens Street, all temporary and enabling works required a very carefully considered design philosophy.
The Principal Contractor, RG Carter, have involved us in many key aspects of the project and during the most intense periods. Without our involvement, and the creativity and pragmatic solutions we have developed, the project would not have progressed as successfully as it has.
