Constructed to replace a sorting office on a site scheduled for redevelopment, the building houses the latest sorting technology used by the Royal Mail. The project also includes a galvanised steel multi-storey car park to house the range of post office vehicles from cars to vans as well as a vehicle workshop.
The site was previously occupied by an assortment of light industrial units having been under continual redevelopment over many years.
The site is filled and suffered from contamination and a high water table requiring the use of piled foundations. As a consequence of the site’s former use and the long-term consolidation of subsoils, ground bearing slabs were used. The superstructure is a portalised steel framework with a mezzanine floor of composite construction over part of the building footprint.
The project also included the diversion of a main carrier sewer which crossed a corner of the site and re-configuration of a public road passing between the two buildings.