Donaldson Timber Systems

Project Profile

Student Accommodation

“Working with timber frame kits was a new experience for us, but I was delighted to discover how professional Donaldon Timber Systems were throughout the whole process. Their collaborative attitude started before we were even on site, as they worked with us through an 8-month offsite consultative period, working as trusted advisors both with ourselves and the follow-on trades, to ensure everyone had full training before and during the build. This meant that the onsite process was easy to manage as this was a difficult site in the centre of town, which needed to complement the many historical listed buildings in the area, as well as the development itself being on the site of Roman ruins which needed to remain intact. DTS met these challenges through their innovative approach to timber frame build. DTS were awarded exemplary H&S scores, demonstrating their absolute dedication to health and safety throughout the build. We are so pleased with the work that they delivered that we are pleased to say negotiations are now ongoing for SMTS to take on Phase 2 of the project”

Project Highlights

• Speed of build – imperative as students needed to take occupation within a year. 2 blocks were built at once.
• Lightweight structure for preservation of Roman Settlement – foundations were engineered to meet this demand.
• The Blocks were designed incorporating progressive collapse with floor cassettes designed to ‘triple span’ over loadbearing walls.
• Limited ground disruption – through hard standing for the Mantis Static HDT 80 crane.
• Superdry Timber (Ultra-Joist) was used within horizontal make-up of the structure.
• Achieved the highest score on record for Health & Safety audit.
• Adopted a hybrid Pod and Panel approach to increase on-site productivity.
• Delivered energy efficiency, increased air tightness, reduced acoustics, reduced energy consumption and completed build in only 24 weeks