Complex steel designs for Outlet Centre
02 Feb 2007
The prestigious new OUTLET, one of the largest factory outlet developments in Ireland uses a highly complex structural steel framework, with steel supplied by Corus.
The curved design of the ten separate buildings allows a stunning overall semi-circular development. A single continuous pedestrian mall sweeps between the two structures of the 80 factory outlet retail areas and guides visitors in an easy movement flow around the 20,000m²
The Outlet, the first phase of the development to be known as Bridgewater Park near Banbridge, County Down, will be one of the largest mixed-use developments in Northern Ireland and is being developed by GML Estates part of the Orana Group along with Land Securities.
The architects who have created this imaginative format are McAlister, Armstrong and Partners Ltd from Belfast and the civil and structural engineering design is being carried out by Doran Consulting.
Farrans are overseeing the construction of The Outlet, and Smyth Steel from Coleraine, have completed the design and have fabricated and erected onsite the 1,600 tonnes of structural steel, used in this first phase.
Keith Netley of project managers, London & Metropolitan International is pleased with the tremendous progress onsite and explained that this first phase is well on track for completion in Easter 2007.
‘The form of the building is also to fit the lie of the land which slopes gently. This involved major cut and fill techniques as a platform was created to fit the buildings into the landscape.’
‘Both project and design wise, Smyth Steel have worked very well. The careful pre-planning undertaken by Smyth has set the project off to a very good start and we are well on target at this stage.’
‘They were able to create structural drawings to meet the needs of the complex portal span design, which uses very long steel lengths to create an open retail space, with reduced visual structures.’
Frank Lindsay of Smyth Steel spoke about the steelwork fabrication they have carried out. ‘The design was very complex to create the structural specifications, as each of the ten individual buildings has different dimensions to accommodate the unusual curved design and the different sizes of retail units in the development.’
‘The steel which came as dual delivery from both Corus Mills and the Corus Steel Service Centre in Lisburn was delivered to our site in Coleraine for fabrication over a period of 12 weeks. Following this we had a further 16 weeks erecting the steel onsite.’
‘Using steel pre-ordered in specific lengths from the Mill was important in making time and cost savings, as the specifically ordered longer lengths were quicker to fabricate and created lower levels of waste steel.’
‘Everything has gone well and we were able to finish within our allotted time slot on site.’
Steven Jamison, of Corus Steel Service Centre Lisburn, has worked with Smyth Steel on many projects. ‘Smyth Steel has tremendous experience in working on projects of this size and is well equipped to cater for the demanding schedules of major developments, such as the Outlet Centre.’
‘We help Smyth Steel to maximise their supply chain on large projects such as this, because we hold an extensive stock of long products and hollow sections at site in Lisburn, he explained.
The second phase of the Outlet development will include a 40,000m² retail park and 3,500 parking spaces. Further stages of the approved scheme will include a 60-bedroom hotel, drive-thru restaurant and filling station. Planning permission has also been granted for a 50,000m² business park and office accommodation, to be developed at a later date.
Once completed Bridgewater Park including the Outlet will total over 100,000 m² (more than one million square foot) of built area on the site of 100 acres.
A major new junction with flyover has been constructed across the busy A1 Belfast-Dublin highway, with slip roads linking both north and south carriageways, providing easy access from adjacent Banbridge.
With a 400 metre frontage along the A1, the Outlet is in a very prominent location and the exciting design is definitely getting itself noticed.
