Marine Gardens, Whitley Bay 

The Home Engineers provided structural designs to assist the re-use of a disused industrial unit in Whitley Bay.

Project Overview

This project relates to the development of a habitable dwelling which was to be formed by re-using a disused industrial unit in Whitley Bay. The building is an existing steel portal frame with masonry infill between columns. Steel trusses span between the columns which support steel purlins and laid-in timbers.

The proposal was to re-use the existing structure and modify (where necessary) to achieve a habitable dwelling for a private client. The building does not have a ‘listing’ and is not particularly sensitive, however, due to the lack of maintenance the building had suffered from localised structural movement which has caused cracking in the masonry. The building was also generally just an ‘eyesore’ for the local community.

As part of the development, none of the existing steel structure was removed; all steel columns, beams, purlins and steel trusses remained in-situ. By reusing the existing steel portal frame structure, the embodied carbon footprint for the development was much lower in comparison to if the structure was built as new.

The re-use of the existing building and existing steelwork prevented the structure from deteriorating into disrepair, which could have had a negative impact on the surrounding area.