Scottish Water – Dumfries Office
Located within the site of a former Scottish Water storage depot, this 400m2 office development updates and consolidates the disparate office facilities for Scottish Water in their south west region.
Location: Dumfries
Client: Scottish Water
Cost: £1.5m
Completion: 2021
The building consists of open plan office, flexible meeting space and associated ancillary facilities, with provision for EV and Equality Act compliant parking.
Utilising and upgrading an existing depot store provides a zone for additional material storage and cycling facilities.
The structure consists of an asymmetric single storey braced steel frame on pad foundations with integral ground bearing slab, on a vibro-replacement improved sub strata.
Key challenges
Located in the former gardens of Marchmount House, made ground was encountered up to 4m deep. After an appropriate ground investigation and discussion with specialist contractors a vibro-replacement solution was proposed as the most economic and technically viable solution. This was also successfully undertaken with due cognisance to vibration control given the close proximity of domestic and industrial properties and a 4m high brick freestanding / retaining wall on the eastern boundary.
Scottish Water required that the new facility reduce surface water burden on their existing network; working within a confined site a permeable paving car park and below ground cellular storage system provide treatment and attenuation for the hardstanding areas of the site.
Results
With the build ongoing throughout the pandemic the project was delivered within budget, providing the client with an open plan naturally ventilated collaborative environment, which ties in with Scottish Water’s Agile Working policies.