The Treehouse Apartments, Beaconsfield
Treehouse Apartments is a four-storey residential structure with additional basement level parking. PBS Building engaged Northrop to repurpose the boundary retaining wall with potential cost savings.
The foundations for the existing retaining walls were above the proposed basement level. The main structural challenge was the design of shoring systems to retain the existing road and adjacent structure.
Our structural team developed a bespoke retention system, which relied on underpinning the current retaining wall. This solution temporarily supported the excavations and provided a permanent shoring system which minimised the width of the structure in an already tight basement carpark.
The structural design included cantilevered scissor stairs supported from the lift core. We were also able to economise the ground floor transfer structure. Northrop overcame several construction phase hurdles (typically associated with a constrained site) while maintaining the architectural intent.