Waterproofing of library and car park - Clapham One

A joint venture between developers Cathedral Group and contractors United House saw the development of a landmark £80m, mixed-use regeneration scheme which has transformed leisure services across two sites in Clapham town centre, south west London.  This Public Private Partnership scheme provides Clapham with a new, highly sustainable leisure centre, a new, state-of-the-art library, a new family health centre and high quality residential accommodation.

The former Mary Seacole House on Clapham High Street has been replaced by The Library Building, designed by Studio Egret West.  The new library area spans two levels, with the ground floor and basement levels connected by a spiral design that also links in the new health centre, a café, performance space and community rooms.

Architects DLA Architecture (www.dla-designs.co.uk) were contracted by Cathedral Group to take forward the initial design to completion.

To ensure the most appropriate waterproofing system is designed, it is necessary to consider the building construction and proposed use.

At Clapham One the basement and linking car park area were constructed with the main retaining wall formed from concrete piles with a capping beam.

The library basement area required a higher level of moisture control than the car park area and as such it was necessary to separate the two areas.

With this in mind, the waterproofing design was developed using Oldroyd cavity drain membranes primarily throughout with the two areas being seperated by using Vandex BB75E elasticised tanking slurry to waterproof the dividing upstands.

Oldroyd Xv Clear was applied to the retaining walls of the library area while Oldroyd Xv20 flooring membrane was installed to provide a drainage layer to the basement floor.

A maintainable and accessible drainage system was provided by a channel created in the cavity between the retaining wall and concrete upstand base for the internal wall.

Cemplas Waterproofing and Concrete Repairs Ltd. (www.cemplas.co.uk) were chosen as the specialist waterproofing contractors, bringing many years of experience and an established reputation to the project.

This unique project was finally completed in the summer of 2012.

Contractor

Cathedral Group and United House

Architect

Studio Egret West and DLA Architecture

Location

Clapham, South London ,
United Kingdrom