The Beckett, a new retirement village scheme, close to the centre of Royal Tunbridge Wells in Kent, comprises three luxury apartment buildings of three, four and six storeys, with the primary building located on the main St Johns Road.
The contemporary design collectively provides 89 quality appointed apartments with a landscaped courtyard garden.
The upper floors are set back from the primary façade providing generous terrace areas and a communal ‘sky lounge’ with expansive views.
The apartments are arranged around full-height atriums which allow natural light to reach the centre of the buildings. Internal circulation areas are generously proportioned and have been designed to maximise opportunity for social interaction.
The buildings are concrete frame and the Schöck Bole shear rail system has been incorporated to counter any possible risk of punching shear failure with the flat slab construction.
Up to four times faster installation with Bole
As with any reinforced concrete slab design, The Beckett scheme is at risk of punching shear failure, which traditionally has been resolved by adding further concrete, such as the use of downstand beams, or localised thickened column heads. However these measures require complex formwork and significantly reduce the benefits offered by the flat slab design.
By incorporating the Schöck Bole shear rail system, installation is cost-effective and significantly faster than traditional loose links – as much as four times faster in fact. This is because when using traditional links it involves far more ties to the reinforcement matt than when using the Schöck Bole.
Quicker, safer and easier
The ready-to-install reinforcement element consists of double-headed studs with spacing bars to ensure correct positioning. Spacers allow installation on the formwork and as a result, installation on the construction site and in the precast plant is therefore quicker, safer and easier to achieve. Two spacer bars are welded to the vertical studs, which ensure the correct distance between uprights. The forged stud heads guarantee a perfect finishing bond with the concrete.
The dramatically reduced fixing time far outweighs any additional material costs that may be involved with a prefabricated system.
Schöck offers two other variants
Schöck has developed two other punching shear reinforcement variants. The type U, designed for installation before the lower mat and type O for installation after the top reinforcement layer. All products in the range are designed to Eurocode 2 and supplied ready for installation.
There is downloadable user-friendly Schöck design software available too, which enables fast and simple dimensioning of the product.
For further information on the Schöck Bole system contact the company on 01865 290 890 or visit www.schoeck.co.uk