Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
have had to design using steel plates or concrete, both materials being very
labour intensive and very awkward to install, nowadays FRP wrapping is
routinely specified.
16.4 Harbour City multi-storey car park
In the majority of inner city areas, car parking poses a major problem to those
people who insist on using their own transport. Recent Acts of Parliament
have tried to ease the burden on both our roads and cities. Car parking
spaces are often very hard to find, as well as being very tight in their size.
In some inner city areas, the possibility of building new car parks is not
viable due to the lack of space available. If the present car parks were to
be demolished then that would cause an even greater problem whilst the
new car park was being erected. What then are the alternatives to this ever-
growing problem?
People could try leaving their cars at home; this has been tried by many,
but never seems to last. The solution then is to extend the existing parking
structures by adding more floors, hence giving more spaces to those who
need to park.
Harbour City Car Park is situated at Salford Quays, close to the new
Lowry Centre. Office blocks and retail facilities are being erected all the time
in this area causing a major headache to car drivers. The car park was built in
1991, designed by Allott and Lomax, now a part of Jacobs Engineering (UK)
Ltd. The building is an in-situ concrete structure, with brick cladding panels.
The car park has won numerous awards for its brickwork cladding panels.
It was decided that an extra 300 spaces were required. To do this an
extra four floors were needed, these being split into two levels. What were
the solutions available to this structure? Demolition and rebuilding was
quickly dismissed as this would have caused major problems during the
reconstruction of the car park, as there was simply nowhere else to park
during the works. Traditional methods such as extra reinforcement and
concrete to the columns were one option, the other being steel plates or
hoops.
It didn't take too long to realise that, if these methods were adopted,
then valuable car parking spaces would be lost due to the extra dimensions
added to the columns. Another consideration would be the weight factor,
which had to be kept to a minimum. The only effective solution left was to
strengthen the columns by confining them using FRPs. It was decided that a
A very tight construction programme had to be met; all the strengthening
work had to be completed in 6 weeks, as well as the car park remaining open
at all times.
