Wellington Square, Belfast

Doran Consulting was appointed to provide civil and structural design services for this major residential development in south Belfast consisting of 224 x 2 and 3-storey houses, 5 x 3-storey apartment blocks with between 8 and 11 single storey apartments in each, and 4 x 4-storey apartment blocks. The development was located on a brown field site. Varying site conditions resulted in a mixture of piled foundations and traditional strip foundations being used for the town houses and smaller apartment blocks.

The four main apartment blocks each house 21 x 1and 2-storey apartments. The upper storeys consist of load bearing masonry, supported on a concrete frame between the foundations, which are piled, and ground floor level. 27 car parking spaces are provided in the basement of each apartment block.

The topography of the site was sloping, which made it necessary to incorporate a number of retaining walls. These were designed and detailed to meet the requirements of Roads Service Technical approval. We also provided design services in relation to the roads, sewers and drainage for the development. This involved the diversion of an undesignated watercourse contained within a 600mm diameter concrete culvert.