Trent starts work at Park Central in Birmingham

Trent Concrete has started work on site with their first apartment buildings on the Park Central development in Birmingham City Centre.

Four years into a ten-year redevelopment programme, Park Central is transforming 61 acres of inner city land and on completion will create 1,400 new apartments and houses and 285,000 sq ft of commercial space, alongside two four acres parks. The landmark regeneration scheme is the result of an innovative relationship between developer Crest Nicholson and joint landowners Birmingham City Council and Optima Community Association.

Trent's initial £839k contract includes 2056 square metres of reconstructed Portland stone cladding, predominantly for the gable ends on blocks 41-44 of the development. The large storey-high panels are typically 6250mm wide, which will enable rapid enclosure of a dry weatherproof envelope for these buildings.

Trent is also providing flat pilasters and balcony edge fascias in a matching finish for the main elevations, together with a variety of piers and string courses on some of the blocks and 3 complete entrance porticos comprising columns and fascia beams.

Trent was awarded the contract by Crest Nicholson after detailed design development work with the architects Gardner Stewart. Precast was specified because of its high quality, accurate finish which was appropriate for these prestigious apartment buildings, and because repetition of units across the blocks made the solution very viable from a commercial viewpoint>

Precast is gaining increasing recognition in the urban residential sector, due to its guaranteed quality and accuracy of finish, certainty of programme and cost, and the minimisation of site work and disruption.

Client/Project Manager: Crest Nicholson (Midlands) Ltd
Architect: Gardner Stewart Architects
Engineer: Curtins Consulting

Notes

Trent Concrete is a specialist precast concrete contractor, producing high quality bespoke architectural cladding and structures.

Providing a complete solution from detailed design development through skills-based manufacture to on-site erection, Trent Concrete partners with leading developers and specifiers to ensure that their projects gain maximum benefit from prefabrication.

Trent Concrete's precast solutions make a major contribution to improved quality, certainty, sustainability, safety and efficiency in the UK construction industry today.

The company has worked on some of the most prestigious projects of recent years, including The Scottish Office and the Toyota GB Plc and Thames Water headquarters buildings, and the quality of its work is consistently recognised in the form of industry awards. Trent Concrete was founded in 1917 and employs more than 160 people.

Trent Concrete Limited  -  e-mail:   quality@trentconcrete.co.uk