Todlaw Supported Housing

The development was constructed on a greenfield site close to the village of Duns in the Scottish Borders. All flats are fully serviced by new underground drainage and an adopted road with disabled person car parking. The flats are of timber kit construction with pre-cast floors spanning between masonry and concrete foundations. Vibro-replacement stone columns were inserted at the site to improve the existing ground conditions.

Narro provided full civil and structural engineering design services for the project. The civils design included determining optimum finished site levels by quantifying the amount of cut and fill required. We provided full road design for the site, taking due cognisance of the nature of the development and the relative mobility of the end users. SUDS solutions were adopted for the surface water drainage system with the foul water being taken to the main public sewer.

The geotechnical investigation concluded that the ground conditions were variable and we accordingly consulted with specialist contractors regarding appropriate ground improvement solutions. Ultimately, a vibro-consolidation method was adopted which proved significantly more economic than other potential solutions such as piling.

The houses were designed in timber for reasons of economy and sustainability.