Mayfield Watford

Lean design improves sustainability and reduces cost

Project Overview

Mayfield Water is the first Mayfield Villages development and one of the largest retirement villages in the UK.

Set within a village community, Mayfield Watford includes a gym, swimming pool, spa, café-bistro, and shop. Along with club facilities and various care options, residents can choose the lifestyle, involvement, and level of help they need.

We were employed to take the design from Stage 3 to completion, building upon the original scheme and delivering significant improvements to both the layout and structural efficiency of the project.

Our Approach

Significant savings were achieved by using rigorous design to optimise the structure and reduce the overall volume of concrete and reinforcement used.

This reduction in building weight, coupled with the optimisation of the foundation design, led to a 25% reduction in the number of piles required for the project, significantly cutting costs and embodied carbon.

For Block B, which includes two levels of car parking below the apartment floors, the use of post-tensioned slab techniques enabled us to reduce the typical floor thickness from 275mm to 225mm while maintaining large spans between columns, eliminating the need for a transfer slab or additional beams above the car park.

Removing columns further improved layout flexibility and allowed for a more efficient use of space.

Geotechnical Expertise

Our Geotechnical team undertook significant work to address the challenges posed by the building’s location, as it was set into an embankment. This included optimising foundation solutions to handle the site’s specific constraints while minimising impact on the surrounding environment.

How we added value to the project

• Reduction of concrete by 290m³ and 140 tonnes of reinforcing steel
• 25% reduction in overall number of piles due to optimised foundation design
• Post-tensioned slabs used to reduce floor thickness while maintaining large spans
• Column removal enhancing layout efficiency
• Geotechnical expertise to address site-specific challenges

The Outcome

“The scale of this development is in line with the residential schemes we have a proven track record of delivering so successfully.

Through lean design principles and careful consideration of sustainability in materials and methods, we brought substantial savings to the project in terms of both cost and embodied carbon.

It was a pleasure to work so collaboratively with the wider team, and it is a testament to that teamwork that the project was named IRC Scheme of the Year 2024 at Health Investor Senior Housing Awards.”

Ben Ransom, Walsh, Director