Our Client was one of the three major anchor tenancies for the Bluewater shopping centre near Dartford in Kent. In fact, the 320 fully let shops at Bluewater form the largest regional shopping centre in the UK, beating the Metro Centre in Gateshead by some 10,745mē and nearby Lakeside, Thurrock by some 34,669mē. The centre is arranged about a triangular mall, with our client's 30,000mē building placed at the apex of one corner. The store is laid out to trade from 3 levels with stock holding and support facilities in a 6 metre deep basement.

Hurst Peirce + Malcolm provided civil and structural engineering services throughout the development phase including:

• Advice on shell specification.

• Liaison with developer's engineers.

• Review of shell progress during construction, including monthly reports

• Engineering details of raised steel platforms at roof level to support modular plantrooms.

• Engineering details for the fitting out phase including support of the main double storey planar glazed mall elevation.

Bluewater from the air

 

Construction monitoring

The use of modular plant mounted externally enables the tenant to become independent of the developer, and the resulting factory fabricated equipment will be finished to a higher order than that assembled on site.