Erith Logistics Hub

Our Approach

Portland was involved from the project inception and provided design services for all civil and structural elements.  The site was located close to the river Thames and as such the ground conditions required the foundations and slab to be piled.  The site had previously been developed on two occasions and as such we ensured that the site layout was arranged to avoid the relic piles remaining from the previous two generations of buildings.

A piled foundation and slab design was devised and a foundation risk assessment undertaken to address the challenges of piling in relation to the aquifer and the risk of the migration of contamination.

To ‘de-risk the piling operation, the existing building foundations were exposed and surveyed to allow the new building foundations to be positioned in locations away from where clashes could occur.

Due to the proximity of the river, the site lies within a Zone 3 flood zone and a sequential test was undertaken as part of our Flood Risk Assessment.

The development provides a 71,000ft² unit with 12.5m to underside of haunch with a slab designed with a capacity of 50kN/m² and FM2 flatness.

An extensive concrete yard serves the unit, with multiple loading docks.

The building is designed to achieve BREEAM Excellent requirements.