Basement Waterproofing - Hippodrome Casino
The London Hippodrome first opened its doors in 1900 and was built by Frank Matcham for £250,000 as a hippodrome for circus and variety performances.
The performance space featured both a proscenium stage and an arena that sank into a 230 ft, 100,000 gallon water tank (400 ton, when full) for aquatic shows including equestrian acts, elephants and polar bears, and acrobats would dive from a Minstrel Gallery above.
During the 50’s,60’s and 70’s the Hippodrome ran as venue for variety shows including ‘Talk of the Town’. In the 80’s the Hippodrome became famous for being one of Londons premier night life venues, Stringfellows.
Waterproofing the Basement Area
London based architects Cadmium Design contacted Safeguard Europe for assistance with specifying a suitable waterproofing system for the basement area of this grade 2 listed building.
Initial meetings revealed a large and complex building with many sub-floor levels, corridors and vaults. As it was a refurbishment project it would only be practical to apply waterproofing systems internally.
With these considerations in mind, an internal Oldroyd Cavity Drain Membrane system was specified. This included Oldroyd Xv membrane to walls, Oldroyd Xv20 membrane on the floor for increased drainage capacity, and Oldroyd Aquadrain perimeter channel to convey any incoming water to a system of Sentry sump pumps. Due to the complexity of its layout and the many differing levels in the basement area, advice was sought for the optimum number and positioning of pumps, from manufacturers, Edincare. Some 28 pumps were eventually specified to cover the 1700m2 floor area.
Intricate detailing was required in certain areas of the basement and Vandex cementitious tanking products were chosen for the waterproofing of these details. Examples include pillars, incoming services, and staircases where the polymer modified waterproofing slurry Vandex BB75E was used.
Additionally Vandex Super was installed as a primary waterproofing system for newly-formed concerete lift pits. Vandex Super is a crystalline active waterproofing product specifically designed for in-depth waterproofing of concrete.
The installation of Oldroyd and Vandex waterproofing products was carried out by specialist contractors Aquarend.
The Hippodrome Casino was finally opened in July 2012.
- Contractor
- Aquarend
- Architect
- Cadmium Design
- Location
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London
,
United Kingdom