Luckley House School, Wokingham – Projects

This project for Luckley House School involved the construction of a new double height auditorium and theatre with single storey dance studios, classrooms and offices around the edge. The auditorium contained a sunken area for seating at ground floor level, as well as cantilever balconies and sound rooms constructed as internal mezzanines at first floor level.

The long spans required in the auditorium were achieved by using composite steel beams and precast concrete planks. The concrete planks were used compositely to reduce the overall structural build-up whilst the exposed concrete soffits enhance the acoustic performance and thermal mass of the structure. The ancillary buildings around the perimeter were constructed with a braced steel frame and timber floors and roofs spanning between.

Due to the presence of large trees and significant areas of made ground within the footprint of the proposed building; shallow spread foundations were deemed to be uneconomical. For this reason, concrete bored piles with a suspended reinforced concrete raft slab were designed for the new foundations.