The J1 ArtHouse development has been carried out by Kier Major Projects for Argent as part of the Kings Cross Regeneration.
The footprint of this high spec residential development is located directly above a number of LUL tube tunnels. This complicated design requires isolation between the basement and ground floor concrete slabs to prevent the transmission of vibration and sound up through the building. By introducing a Gerba spring system a complete isolation between the basement and ground floor slabs was achieved.
The design of the masonry panels must conform to this isolation requirement. No head fixings were permitted at basement soffit level and vertical fixings only to a height of 1.5m. These constraints made the design very complex. After protracted deliberations Kier Major Projects chose the WI Column and Beam Systems as the only viable option to laterally restrain the basement masonry panels.
The challenges of this design were completely resolved by using a combination of the WI Column and Beam Systems. This resulted in significant commercial, programme and architectural benefits for the project. All parties – Argent, Kier Major Projects, Weedons and Arup were very satisfied with the resulting solution.
