structural appraisal report

7/24/2019 Structural Appraisal Report

1/14

STRUCTURAL APPRAISAL

Client: Fresh Start Living

March 2013

V1.0

-18/05/2009

N13078

Prepared by: Mick Silversides

GROVE HOUSESKERTON ROAD, MANCHESTER


2/14

N13078 Structural Appraisal

N13078 RP-01

STRUCTURAL APPRAISAL

GROVE HOUSE

SKERTON ROAD

MANCHESTER

CONTENTS

1.0 INTRODUCTION

2.0 BUILDING CONSTRUCTION

3.0 DETAILS OF INSPECTION

4.0 CONCLUSIONS

APPENDICES

APPENDIX A PHOTOGRAPHS


3/14


1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1 On the instructions of Fresh Start Living, Patrick Parsons Limited Consulting Engineershave been engaged to carry out a non-intrusive visual survey of Grove House, onSkerton Road in the Stretford area of Manchester.

1.2 The purpose of the survey was to assess the structural condition of the existing building,as far as visual means allow, and report on the suitability of the building for conversioninto residential accommodation.

1.3 In addition, the report will detail major defects and recommend further survey works toinvestigate these defects should this be considered necessary.

1.4 The report is based on a visual, non-invasive survey, and no attempt was made to

remove fixtures, fittings or furniture. The survey of the external fabric was carried outfrom ground level, and is therefore limited as a result.

1.5 The building is situated on Skerton Road, and all references to front, rear, left and rightare made assuming the reader is on Skerton Road looking directly at the building.

1.6 The survey was carried out on Tuesday 26thMarch 2013, and the weather was cold andovercast, but dry.

1.7 Photographs taken at the time of the survey are included in Appendix A, and are cross-referenced to the relevant paragraphs.


4/14


2.0 BUILDING CONSTRUCTION

2.1 Grove House is a nine storey, plus roof top plant/lift motor room, former office buildinglocated off Skerton Road, Manchester.

2.2 To the front elevation the cladding consists of horizontal brickwork panels to each floorlevel, with continuous horizontal glazing to the full width of the elevation at each floorlevel, punctuated by the vertical metal clad face of the columns. The plant room is setback from the front elevation.

2.3 To the rear elevation the cladding is broadly the same as the front, but to the centralservice core is full height brickwork punctuated by single windows to the toilets and liftlobby, and full height strip windows and cladding panels to the staircases. The plantroom abuts the rear elevation, and its cladding is solid brickwork.

2.4 To the gable elevations the cladding comprises full height brickwork with a centralsection of vertical glazing and cladding panels punctuated by the vertical metal clad faceof the central column. The plant room is set back from the gable elevations.

2.5 The building structure comprises a concrete flat slab supported on perimeter reinforcedconcrete columns and a single line of central reinforced concrete columns. Nothickenings were noted around any column heads. Measurements taken in a smallservice void suggest that the floor slab is in the order of 225mm thick, but this wouldneed to be confirmed by more invasive techniques. The gable ends appear to bereinforced concrete shear walls with a single central reinforced concrete column.

2.6 At ground floor level the side walls to the entrance are of solid construction, we were notable to determine whether they were reinforced concrete or blockwork construction. Thewalls to the disabled toilet were also solid. Access to the left wing of the ground floorwas not possible during our survey.

2.7 There is a solid concrete/masonry core to the service area at the rear of the buildingencompassing the staircases, lifts and toilets. We were able to confirm reinforcedconcrete construction to the lift shafts and staircases, but the other walls would requireinvasive survey work to confirm. The internal walls to the main toilets are lightweightblockwork, and extend to the underside of the floor slab above.

2.8 The solid service core runs on the same line throughout the full height of the building. Allother walls are studwork, and the stud wall layout varies on every floor, with only theservice core being common to all levels.

2.9 To the perimeter of the building the floor slab steps to form a boot lintel, and this stepsupports the brickwork cladding panels below the windows to the front and rearelevations. We were not able to determine the details of any inner leaf, and invasivesurvey work would be required to confirm this.


5/14


2.10 All floors have a lightweight suspended lay-in grid ceiling system hung below thestructural concrete soffit. The service void created is not large. There remains the

original directly applied ceiling finish to the soffit of the slab, comprising a stippled finishplaster painted white.

2.11 All floors generally have a carpeted finish applied directly to the concrete floor slab, withthe exception of old computer server rooms on the first and sixth floors that have araised floor system in place.

2.12 The only other notable variation was the presence of mobile storage racking located onpart of the fifth and sixth floors. No floor strengthening work was noted below either ofthese areas.

2.13 The roof is accessed via the main left staircase that issues onto the roof via a single

storey masonry enclosure. This enclosure has a reinforced concrete frame and roof, andis clad in brickwork to match the main building.

2.14 There is a rooftop plant room adjacent the access enclosure and this is split into twoareas, the first houses the lift motor room and the second houses other plant. Accesswas not possible to either of these areas during our survey. The plant room isapproximately a storey and a half in height with solid masonry walls, and follows the lineof the service core below extending to the line of the central row of internal columns. Theaccess enclosure is set back from the internal columns following the line of the mainservice core below.

2.15 The roof slab is of flat slab construction. The thickness of the roof slab could not be

determined, and neither could the nature of any finishes on the roof itself, other than thewaterproof membrane at the surface. This membrane extends to the full roof area and istaken up the face and top of a small parapet to the full perimeter of the roof.


6/14


3.0 DETAILS OF INSPECTION

3.1 All visible areas internally appear to be in good condition. The building is stillpredominantly heated, and has been kept in a good state of repair generally.

3.2 The reinforced columns have a plaster finish internally, but no distress was noted to anyof the members inspected.

3.3 Local inspection of the flat slab soffit was made by lifting ceiling panels. While the slabhas a directly applied plaster finish, no obvious signs of stress or overloading wereevident at or around the inspected points.

3.4 Inspection of the ceiling over the eighth floor shows no obvious signs of waterpenetration through the roof, suggesting the roof finishes are in good order. There were

isolated areas in other parts of the building where water staining was evident to ceilingtiles, but it is suspected that these are due to leaking pipes. No obvious signs of ongoingwater ingress were noted during the survey.

3.5 Externally, the masonry cladding is in a good state of repair with no obvious defectsobserved from ground level.

3.6 Windows all appear to be single glazed, aluminium framed units and are in reasonablecondition.

3.7 The external face of all of the reinforced concrete columns is clad in metal panelsprecluding a detailed inspection.

3.8 The exposed section of floor slab/boot lintel below the brickwork panels to the front andrear elevations is painted externally and is generally in good condition. There are a fewareas that have received minor repair work in the past, but the only observable defectwas to the top of a lintel over the rear eighth floor window directly against the left edge ofthe service core. Here the concrete has spalled locally at the junction with the brickworkto the service core.

3.9 Also to the rear elevation, the concrete lintels over the windows to the toilets generallyhave a horizontal crack between the top of the lintel and the brickwork above. It issuspected that these lintels are not integral with the floor slab, and this cracking is notstructurally significant.

3.10 The roof top parapet appears to be in good condition when observed from the groundvia binoculars. Inspection from the roof was considered too dangerous as the parapet isonly in the order of 300mm high with no edge protection. It should be noted that therooftop does have designated walkways that are barriered off.


7/14


8/14


APPENDIX A

PHOTOGRAPHS


9/14


10/14


11/14


12/14


13/14


14/14

structural appraisal report

Documents