This joint venture between Poplar HARCA & Willmott Dixon Regeneration creates a new community of over 1,200 homes together with a village centre providing retail, health and community facilities.

Aberfeldy Village is a major part of Poplar HARCA’s plans to reshape the area. The development comprises multiple phases to be carried out over a 10 year period. To date, CampbellReith has provided full civil and structural design services for Phases 1, 2 and 3 of this 1100 unit regeneration project.

Phase 1 comprises 3 blocks from 4-12 storeys high, with 338 units of sale, market rent and affordable accommodation. Phase 2 comprises 227 residential units in two blocks up to 8 storeys high. Phase 3 comprises 346 units in four blocks, with a two storey NHS Health Centre, Community Centre with a two storey high column free hall and the new estate Energy Centre provided in the lower floors of the blocks. Single level basement car parks are provided in one of each of the blocks in each Phase.

Floors are of insitu reinforced concrete flat slabs with a power float finish and acoustic mat to receive direct floor finishes. Columns are of slender ‘blade’ configuration concealed in party walls and the inner leaf of external walls. Lift and stair core walls are also of insitu reinforced concrete construction.

For Phase 2 and 3 of the project, the columns and core walls were of precast, reinforced concrete, with insitu reinforced concrete slabs. Precast columns and walls were selected by the contractor to speed construction and maintain construction quality. Foundations take the form of continuous flight auger piles. The car park basements have a perimeter steel sheet piled wall which is designed to support the vertical loads of the perimeter columns, as well as the retained ground.

Working closely with the architect, a sustainable drainage solution was developed, utilising urban swales alongside an avenue of trees following a linear park through the estate, with a storm cell attenuation to provide the necessary overall water attenuation capacity. The surface water runoff from adjacent paved and soft landscaped areas runs directly into the swale, providing a habitat for both flora and fauna. The storm cell collects the larger volumes of rainwater from the buildings and paved areas.

The soil investigation identified significant requirements for remediation including isolated areas of Hazardous waste. CampbellReith designed a remediation strategy across the site by 200-300mm, raising ground levels and an outline strategy for site treatment of waste soil before disposal off site was agreed. This achieved substantial savings compared to initial estimates. Detailed investigation and studies have been undertaken on ground gas generation and hydrocarbon presence in higher level ground water to mitigate the extent of protection measures.