The Renovation Plan for Abbey House - Case Study Example

Introduction This report is a renovation report for Abbey House which is an existing five storey building which was built in 1870. The building in its original form has a mixed masonry external walls, masonry internal walls with the floor being made of timber. The University purchased the building with the aim of relocating the overseas marketing headquarters in the building. The original plan was to retain the two listed elevations while the rest of the building would be demolished. As part of the renovation plan it is required that the basement area be excavated so as to house a new room and vaults used in the storage of students records. There will be construction of a new in-situ reinforced concrete frame on piled foundations having in-situ tee –beam made of reinforced concrete whose construction will provide the basement, the ground floor first, second, third and the fourth floor. Two passenger lifts will be provided in the building which will be housed in in-situ concrete service core shafts. Another shaft will be required for the services provided in the house: mechanical, hydraulic and electrical risers. Reconstruction work As part of the renovation there will be construction of a new fire escape stairway where the construction will be such that the enclosures have two hour resistant. The position of the new fire resistant escape stairway will replace the old stairway with no alteration being made in terms of the position as can be seen from the drawings. The ground floor The changes at the ground floor are as shown in drawing 1. From the drawing it can be observed that the ground floor is accessed through the entrance hall. At the entrance hall it can be seen that the there are two lifts which can be used to access the upper floors. From the entrance hall there is a door leading to the entrance foyer designated. The entrance foyer is then connected to the reception area. The entrance hall floor and the foyer will be made of a colourful terrazzo which will be in-situ. The terrazzo will be finely polished to give it a shiny look. The terrazzo choice for this area has been made bearing in mind its characteristics: cold, noisy, slippery when wet and does not dust (Blanc, 1994). The hardness and coldness of the terrazzo is not a major concern as this are areas which are used by people as passage way. The emphasis is therefore laid on the appearance and durability while other factors have little emphasis. The wash ability of the floor is also a major factor in choosing the terrazzo as this are areas which will be frequently be used by all people entering the building thus being made dirty. This means that the area will need high frequency of cleaning and this need to be a simple process. The walls in these areas will be made of marble stones while the ceiling will be of plaster and render. The ground floor has a total of four offices G1, G4, G5 and G6. There is a reception designated G2, a toilet G7 and a kitchen G3. The toilet G7 will be partitioned into the male and female section. From the ground floor the two lifts which are to be used in the building can also be seen (G9 and G10). From the drawing it can be observed the offices G4 and G6 will be of the same size and will be the largest. The offices G5 and G2 will be almost he same size even though G5 is slightly larger than G2. The offices will be through partitioning of the area. The partitioning will be semi-demountable type where the edge of the frame will be fixed to the structure. The frame members of the partition will be made of steel studs, plates and sills. The lining on the fame will be on both faces which will be of villaboard. There will be provision of a ceiling which will provide a concealed zone for services. When placing the ceiling need to easy access to services will be put into consideration. Little consideration will be done on the sound proofness of the ceilings at the ground floor. The floors at the offices will be made of vinyl which has a good characteristic of being warm. This characteristics is very important because the users of the offices are expected to spent a considerably long time in the offices and thus their comfort is of utmost importance. Other characteristics that make it desirable are: easy to clean, easy to clean, reasonably hard-wearing surface and resilient depending on the thickness that will be used. Figure 1: Ground floor First floor The first floor is for presentations and is to contain a theatrette with tiered seating, two general meeting rooms, greeting areas and minor office space for administration. The first floor is accessed through the entrance hall. The floor of the entrance hall will also be by using terrazzo to increase its durability and for aesthetic appeal. The lift s to be used will also be modern to improve the efficiency of travel within the building in addition of improving the building appearance. From figure 2 the room designated F2 will be the theatrett, F1 and F3 are the two general meeting rooms, F6, F7 and F8 will serve as the greeting areas. The theatrette will be designed for beauty, comfort, and good sound characteristics. The general meeting areas will also be designed for the same but to a lower degree. The greeting area will be well lit with. There will be a ceiling in all the greeting areas. The floor at the greeting areas will be made of vinyl floor tiles and sheet with high durability. The material is easily cleanable, waterproof, and resilient among other characteristics. The ceiling in the theatrette will be highly acoustic. To enhance sound absorbance there will be use of textured, perforated and embossed materials so as to increase sound absorbance ( Foster, 1994). The ceiling will be deep so as to house the services. The floor for the theatrette will be design for comfort, good appearance and also sound absorbance. The floor will have a broadloom carpet made of nylon. This carpet is strong, tough and very hard wearing and is easily cleanable. The theatrette will be artificially ventilated and also the lighting will be artificial. The walls enclosing the theatrette will be of masonry. There will be a layer on the wall inside the theatrette which will ensure high sound absorbance. The two general meeting rooms will have the same design. The rooms will have a wooden floor which will be chosen for its warmth, durability, good appearance and its resilience. A soft board ceiling will be will be used which will have less acoustic properties than the theatrette ceiling. The toilets on this floor will be just like the on the other floors will of proprietary panel systems with Laminex being the preferred choice. The minor office have the walls and ceiling just like for the general meeting rooms but the floor will be made of carpet. Figure 2: First floor Second and third floor The second floor is subdivided as shown in Figure 3 where we have two supervisor’s offices designated F3 and F4, small meeting room F1, F2 and F5. The toilets are located at the same point as the other floor and is designated F7 while the room designated F6 is the tea preparation area. All the partitions on will be non demountable and will me made of masonry. All the corridor floors will resilient tiles. The offices will have softwood ceilings and the floor will be tiled with vinyl. The vinyl tiles are convenient for their durability, and come in various colour and this makes it possible for the most appealing colour to be chosen (Blanc, 1994). The ceilings depth will be such that they will be able to house the services. This will be chosen for their durability, quiet, resilience, ease of cleaning and there are hard to wear. The tea preparation area will also have the same type of flooring. The areas around the sink in this room will be tiled for ease of cleaning and to avoiding wetting the walls. Use of timber walls will be avoided as timber is likely to absorb water which may spill on the floor during the tea preparation process. This may cause the timber to shrink and pill off. Timber is also need for its warmth and in this area warmth is not necessary since little time is spent in this area ( Foster, 1994).. The meeting rooms will have wooden floors as this is warm and durable. These areas will also not be prone to wetness like the tea preparation areas where cases of water spilling on the floor may be common. The use of carpets in the meeting rooms may not be recommended because in this area there may be uncontrolled movement of people in and out of the rooms. There is also high movement of chairs and this could easily destroy the carpet. Carpet is much more expensive and its use in the rooms may not make any economic sense. The corridors on these floors will be made of Vinyl tiles. This have been chosen for there durability and ease of cleaning bearing in mind this is a common areas used by many people and is prone to being soiled. The Vinyl tiles at this site are convenient at the corridors as they can be cleaned and dried by wiping. The cleaning of the tiles does not require any special procedure during the cleaning process. Figure 3: Second floor and third floor plan The fourth floor The fourth floor will be as shown in figure 4 where there will be eight executive offices and a board room that will be timber paneled incorporating an 18 seat one-piece oak conference table. Due to many number of offices and there relatively small sizes all the office partitions will be demountable. This will reduce space wastage as very partitions will be of very little thickness. Time will also be saved as demountable partitions are faster to put up in comparison to the other type. This floor unlike the other floor will have an access floor. There is need for the access floor because there are many executive offices on this floor which will need various services. This means that there will be many cabling work required. The cabling to be laid under the false floor will be the data cables, communication cables, electricity line for computers and the general electricity line. The floor will be tiled and the tiles will easily be removable to access the services. In the office spaces there will be a carpet placed on the floors to ensure a warm floor, for comfort and good appearance. The board room will have a ceiling with good acoustic properties, lighting, and ventilation with a good appearance. While placing the ceilings there are several things that need to be put into consideration. The strength of the ceiling is important and the suspension system should be able to take the weight of the ceiling and fittings in addition to being able to handle movement within the structure. The floor will be carpeted while the walls will have additional layer for improving sound absorption. It is also important to take note of the water resistance of the ceiling materials being used. Water resistance of ceilings is associated with temperature and humidity. Suspended ceiling material may absorb moisture when there is use of evaporative cooling or there is heavy humidity air-conditioning thus having effect on the ceiling ( Foster, 1994). The other thing that has effect on the ceiling is moisture content and heat changes as this will bring about dimensional movements , swelling, shrinkage, sagging due to the moisture. Figure 4: Fourth floor plan Conclusion From this literature it can be found that the building will have a variety of rooms for various functions. The rooms will vary in size according to their functions. There are various materials which have been used for different purposes. The choice of material to be used was dependant on functional properties required, the cost of the materials and the level of good appearance required. In terms of partitioning the size of the rooms was important in determining whether the rooms are to demountable or non demountable. The flooring of the different areas was dependant on the type of exposure which the floor was would be exposed to. Carpet was used where comfort the floor was to be warm, appearance was important and where care could easily be guaranteed. Tiles were found to be used in areas where cleaning was to be done easily and more frequently. This includes areas like corridors and stairs and reception areas. Wooden floors were found to be appropriate in areas where the floor is exposed to abrasive activities like in halls where people work in and out with frequent movement of chairs. These areas also required warmth as users spent considerable time in these areas. Use of marble on walls and terrazzo on the floor was poorly for aesthetic and durability. This found application at the ground floor which is the first area visitors in the house enter. Flowers are expected to be placed at convenient points of the entrance halls and for all the floors and the foyer at the first floor. With the refurbishment of the building there is need to develop a fire strategy which will serve the building appropriately. References Alan Blanc, 1994, Mitchells Building Series Internal Components, Longman Group Ltd, Jack Stroud Foster, 1994, Mitchells Building Series Structure and Fabric, Part 1, Read More