Case Study: Birchwood House, Northwood

The Brief
Back in November 2021, we received a job from the Westcombe group to supply and install planks and precast stairs for a new residential development in Northwood.

Key Points
The job included a design for ground floor (840m²), first floor (700m²), second floor
(610m²) concrete planks to be supplied and installed by Floorspan. As well as, internal and external precast concrete stairs.

Hollowcore Planks: The Residential Solution
Hollowcore planks are ideal for high quality residential properties where spans are
often greater.

Sound insulation is also an important consideration when building multi-storey
residential properties. This is particularly true of blocks of flats, as defined in Part E of the Building Regulations. Our 150mm or 215 planks are a perfect solution to the
problem, offering excellent resistance to the passage of sound.

The Installation
Using our installation service can often be the best way of guaranteeing that this
important stage of your build achieves maximum value and efficiency.

In the case of hollowcore planks a qualified, appointed person will visit the site to
recommend crane sizes and to liase with the relevant people with regards to access
and logistics.

Birchwood house presented many challenges to our install team. The three storey installation started off with the most complicated phase as we had to install the
ground floor planks through the steel frame. The customer made this process easier
for us by leaving out the relevant steels we requested prior to the install. This allowed
us to guide the planks through the steel onto the bearings with no issues.

The size of the crane was all agreed prior to the works and the customer created a
crane base which was suitable for the specialist machine. An 80t crane was used for the ground floor and a 90t crane for both first and second floors. The customer was
helpful and organised, doing anything we asked to ensure the install ran smoothly
and more importantly, was safe for all parties involved.

The Verdict
The customer was very satisfied
with each of the installs and
extremely happy with the finished
floors. We look forward to working
with the Westcombe group in the
future.