Ocon managing director Clive Williamson discusses the contractor’s part in turning some of the most dilapidated sites into 21st century success stories

THE UK’S industrial cities – for so long the bedrock of the nation’s economic success – have often posed significant challenges for contractors charged with turning land plagued by their industrial past back into use.

Land that had been engulfed by heavy industry had previously employed hundreds of people and acted as the focal point for communities.

Sheffield obtained worldwide recognition for its production of steel, Leeds – the production and trading of wool and Nottingham for its Victorian lace industry.

Today, such cities are thriving, but in new times, and for different reasons.

SHEFFIELD THREE, SHEFFIELD

OCON’S SITE at Hoyle Street in Sheffield will eventually be regenerated into a £42m student accommodation apartment with underground public car parking facilities.

The origins of the site date back to the early 1800s, with industrial development on the site beginning in the late Georgian, early Victorian period with the construction of the Hoyle Street Works.

This factory gradually evolved into a substantial steelworks, which had its own cementation and crucible furnaces.

The rich history of this brownfield site in Sheffield was unearthed when Ocon discovered a group of industrial-age crucible furnaces. The furnaces, which were discovered in a basement that had previously lay buried beneath the
surface, will be retained and kept as part of the new building. Under specially supervised conditions the public will be allowed to visit the basement to have a glimpse at the industrial past of the area.

Ocon will stringently adhere to Note 15 – ‘The Historic Environment’ in the ‘Planning Policy Guidance’ document to ensure that the history of this site is maintained and incorporated into the new building.

The arch feature within the basement will be retained and the repair of the walls will respect the existing fabric and match it in materials, texture, quality and colour.

Ocon will also clean and paint the iron tie straps and maintain the furnace holes as a feature.

The original design of the room will be preserved, with no partitions being introduced to break up the space and the false ceilings within the basement will be removed and the original ceilings restored. All of this is an example of how construction companies should respect the heritage of sites. By maintaining the furnace basement this will act as a reminder of the ‘Steel City’s proud industrial past.

Client: Opal Property Group
Cost: £42m
Completion: 2009

MANOR MILLS, LEEDS

MANOR MILLS is a large residential development situated in the regenerating Holbeck Urban Village to the south of Leeds city centre.

Following stringent inspections by engineering contractors it was discovered that a 100 year-old building, only six metres adjacent to the site, began showing signs of movement when work began onsite.

The immediate response was to stop all works to ensure health and safety.

After the situation was thoroughly assessed, it was decided that the best way to progress would be to build a pile
wall to support the foundations of the destabilised building.

To achieve this 56 Continuous Flight Auger (CFA) piles were installed, which is a method of drilling piles into the ground and replacing soil with concrete in order to add strength to the building.

The concrete is injected through a hollow shaft under pressure as the auger or drill is extracted – this
creates a continuous pile without ever leaving an open hole. The procedure took three weeks to complete, but ensured the longterm survival of a building with historical and cultural importance.

Client: K W Linfoot
Cost: £21m
Completion: 2008

CHETTLES YARD, NOTTINGHAM

THIS SITE will eventually be transformed into a large student accommodation complex, consisting of 1,000 bedrooms,
a showroom and retail facilities.

Before redevelopment began, the site had become an abandoned industrial wasteland with the soil badly affected by leaking fuel tanks and the deliberate disposal of oil, petrol and diesel.

The site required a significant amount of land remediation in order to make it fit for development. The preferred technique of cleaning up the site was bioremediation.

The process of bioremediation is one in which naturally occurring microbes are used to remove toxic chemicals from the soil. The microbes feed on the pollutants and as they eat away at them the contamination levels within the soil begin to decrease.

To speed up this process warm water is filtered onto the site through pipes as this helps to ensure the natural microbes (fungi and bacteria) work at the correct temperature and to the optimum rate.

The major benefit of this process is that it eradicates the need for hordes of lorries to constantly travel back and forth from construction sites to landfill. This not only reduces motorway congestion, but also decreases pollution and disruption to local areas that are effected by nearby construction sites.

Client: Opal Property Group
Cost: £55m
Completion: 2009

The three cities have grown from their industrial roots to become economic hubs.

Sheffield is one of the fastest growing UK cities for office and residential space, Leeds is one of the
largest financial and legal centres outside London; while Nottingham is a multi-million pound retail mosaic anchored by upmarket redevelopments that has seen the city prosper to fourth in the retail shopping league of England.

But without the comprehensive clean up of the dilapidated land these cities would still be awash with dereliction, isolation and would be a stark visualisation of economic decline.