Award Recognised Project

Mayfield Watford

Lean design improves sustainability and reduces cost

Project Overview

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, cafƩ-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 stripping concrete and reinforcing steel from the original planning scheme.

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 buildingā€™s location, as it was set into an embankment. This included optimising foundation solutions to handle the siteā€™s specific constraints while minimising impact on the surrounding environment.

How we added value to the project

  • Reduction of concrete by 290mĀ³ 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

 

Awards

Client 
  • Audley
  • Mayfield Villages
Architect 
  • Gaunt Francis Architects
Contractor 
  • Balfour Beatty
Completion Date2022

Please click on images below to open a full-screen gallery.

Explore Related Projects

Student Accommodation

Chapter London Bridge

Innovating city student living through MMC [...]

Read more

Student Accommodation

Wembley Park Plot NE01

Using lean design to reduce embodied carbon on large PBSA scheme [...]

Read more

Residential

Paddington Green Police Station

Wind-tunnel testing and temporary works design reduces high-rise concrete volumes & embodied carbon [...]

Read more

Hotels

Quay House

Integrated engineering approach delivers elegant & sustainable hotel design [...]

Read more

Mixed Use

Harold Hill Family Welcome Centre

Structural scheme designed for future-proof adaptation [...]

Read more

Student Accommodation

urbanest Battersea Palmerston Court

Exemplar PBSA development incorporating MMC innovations and PassivHaus standards [...]

Read more

Taking Sustainability Seriously

Sustainability is in our DNA and we have our own ambitious goals to achieve Net Zero as a business and with our designs. With innovative in-house monitoring tools, Walsh clients have seen on average reductions of 10-20% total embodied carbon, with some of our flagship work achieving 60-70% reductions compared with baseline figures.