The project in County Dublin involved the construction of a new traditional non-sortable (TNS) distribution centre on a 11.5-hectare site for developer Mountpark. EirEng provided full structural engineering services from the tender stage through to construction and practical completion.
The TNS facility is a logistic centre, consisting of a warehouse area of 54,250m2 with one level of mezzanine which partially covers the main warehouse floor area. The fit-out operations of the facility include both very narrow aisle (VNA) racking and a multi-level pick tower storage system that is supported off both the ground floor slab (5 tiers) and the mezzanine (3 tiers).
In addition to the warehouse footprint, a main office structure was provided to the North-Eastern elevation and multiple ancillary structures such as welfare facilities, technical and break out areas, and external MoE stair cores around the perimeter of the building.
As part of the scheme design EirEng worked with the design team and appointed steel fabricator to value engineer the steel frame and mezzanine solution to meet the future tenant’s requirements. This resulted in a solution that was at variance to the future tenant’s prototype design but met their performance design criteria and could be delivered within budget and programme.
There were other significant design challenges that needed to be balanced between programme and budget constraints. These included the foundation solution where piling was not an option due to lead-in time frames not matching programme aspirations. As a result, a deep fill pad foundation solution was adopted which brought the foundation loads down to the underlying dense granular glacial till or limestone to achieve a suitable allowable bearing capacity. The foundation solution was closely monitored by both EirEng and a geotechnical specialist.
The nature of the cut and fill exercise on site and the subsequent platform construction necessitated a detailed settlement assessment of the ground floor slab in terms of both long-term and differential settlements. EirEng worked closely with the design team and appointed flooring and geotechnical specialists to ensure the design solutions met the client’s performance requirements.
In terms of the mezzanine, this spans over the dock area and supports a 3-tier pick storage solution providing a clear zone below loading and unloading operations. A detailed design exercise was completed on the mezzanine slab to ensure the most practical and economical design was adopted to support the high point loads associated with the pick tower storage system. The exercise was a collaborative approach involving all members of the design team and challenged each party to ensure the solution was optimised to minimise structural depths and maximise subsequent clear heights above and below.
Leading Online Retailer
2022
54,250 m2
