Kodak Building

Renovation & repurposing of iconic tower block

Formerly home to the Kodak Corporation, this building required a mixed-use renovation to serve commuters, businesses, investors and retailers. The bottom two floors remained as office space whilst the upper floors were redeveloped as luxurious one-and-two-bedroom flats. A new cable-stayed bridge over the A4116 was also required to link the development with the neighbouring shopping district.

Within the refurbished structure the layout of the apartments required the removal of large sections of existing core wall and additional openings through the reinforced concrete ribbed slabs. Furthermore the top two storeys of the original structure were removed in order to allow for four new lightweight floors, with no increase in load on the structure. Walsh modelled the existing structure at each stage of the proposed works in order to ensure the structural integrity at all times.

The new build element of this project consisted of five 4 to 10-storey units situated over a two-storey car park. Due to the high stresses in the low-level blockwork, Walsh suggested the use of specially sourced blockwork and high strength mortars. Where possible, foundations were reused or developed around the original piling. During this process Walsh identified two main trunk sewers running through the line of the proposed foundations. We therefore designed a diversion of one of these and a large bridging structure to span over another.