Steel structure set to be installed at Nottingham retirement village
Work has started on site for the installation of Fusion Building Systems’ offsite light gauge steel superstructure at the new Winwood Heights development in Sherwood, Nottingham.
Contracted by Willmott Dixon for Nottingham City Homes and Nottingham City Council’s new retirement village in the north of the city, Fusion’s patented panelised system will be used to erect a four-storey, 44-home development over the next 16 weeks.
Mike Fairey, Fusion Building Systems director, said: “We have a long-standing relationship with Willmott Dixon and were delighted to be awarded this project. We’ve worked on a number of extra care facilities for other contractors so our experience has helped steer our approach – but the uniquely-shaped floorplan, construction over a transfer platform and the structural integrity of the main entrance, are all aspects which our design and engineering teams have been able to work closely with Willmott Dixon to achieve.
“We’re working to a 16 week build time on site and there’s no reason why that should slip. The predictability of offsite methods of construction is why so many developers and contractors are choosing to work with it, despite working in the freezing temperatures which we’re currently experiencing. We look forward to completing on site in the spring and I’m sure the finished accommodation will be a welcome addition to the local community.”
Fusion will erect the four-storeys of accommodation over a transfer platform, neighboured on either side by two existing 15-storey blocks, which are being modernised. The development will provide housing for people aged over 55, allowing residents to live independently, but providing flexible care as their needs increase over time.
Simon Leadbeater, managing director at Willmott Dixon responsible for housing in the Midlands, added: “We contracted Fusion for our residential work at Trent Basin and they’re also one of our partners for an award-winning, innovative national school building programme. We know their system works and chose it specifically for Winwood Heights because it could be engineered to work with the design of the development.”
The work to create Winwood Heights is being carried out as part of Nottingham City Homes and Nottingham City Council’s Building a Better Nottingham programme.
