Cottage Hospice opened in December 2019, in Five Ashes near Mayfield. An entirely new purpose-built building designed to support a totally new way of caring for patients, with family caregivers looking after their loved ones with the support of volunteers and nursing staff, creating an entirely new ‘home plus’ option for families.
What were the challenges and what made the project successful?
The project was very challenging due to the various curved roof structures along with different levels and geometry changes throughout the project. The other challenge was that some of the main curved roofs were made from glulam beams (shown in brown) which where modelled in Tekla and issued to the timber company direct. In the heart of the building there where also 2no supporting curved crucifixes made from glulam material and strengthened internally by steel plates. The connections in the curved glulam members were challenging and had to be aesthetically pleasing to the eye.
What benefits did utilizing BIM and Tekla software bring to the project?
Tekla Strutures handled the mixture of steel and timber perfectly which helped smooth exchange of information between the steel fabricator and the timber manufacturer. Also the other major factor was being able to share our model with the structural engineers, architects & client which helped with understanding technical queries that became apparent throughout the project.
The project in numbers
- Project parts = 2800
- Project bolts = 1480
- Length & width = 43m x 25m
- Steel tonne = 64t (approx)
