Structural Awards 2017 success
Features: The Pump House
The Pump House was announced as winner of the Award for Small Project (under £1m) at the 50th IStructE Structural Awards 2017.
The Pump House was constructed in 1903 by the London Hydraulic Power Company, a company set up by an Act of Parliament in 1883 to install a hydraulic power network to London. It’s now in its second incarnation, having been converted into luxury residential spaces.
The owner of one of these flats was keen to renovate the internal space, using the generous height to accommodate a mezzanine floor. The mezzanine would fit between the existing floor and the lowest point of the roof trusses, meaning the structure and build up had to be aggressively minimised.
We eliminated all finishes above and below the mezzanine floor and made the structure itself a decorative soffit below and a hardwearing floor above, by using cast iron floor panels. The panels are cast with a monolithic stiffened underside and a solid continuous top face and bolted together to form a continuous slab.
The judges were impressed with the ‘ingenious use of cast iron, which has many advantages over steel, as a cheaper raw material that can be cast into endlessly complicated shapes’.
Along with this win, two of our recent projects were shortlisted for the awards. 15 Clerkenwell Close, for Structural Artistry, and Amesbury Visual Arts Pavilion, for Small Project.