Creating a new form of community life with sustainability to the fore

Picture House Court - Engineering Services

North Street is the vibrant hub of Bedminster and is undergoing a series of regeneration schemes. The Picture House Court development comprises a number of blocks enclosing a new courtyard on the site of the former 1920s Rex Cinema. Urbis Living appointed us to provide multidisciplinary engineering services for this project.

Following reprofiling of the ground levels for the superstructures, our civil engineers faced a major drainage challenge. The main sewer system from the adjacent existing buildings ran directly across the site and was now located at eye level. Working in close collaboration with Wessex Water, we found a solution to lower and divert the pipe through the center of the site, housing it within concrete channels accessible to Wessex Water by manhole covers.

The apartments are constructed with timber frames on top of a podium slab with commercial space beneath fronting North Street, whilst the three blocks of terrace houses utilize loadbearing masonry. Our structural designs included large masonry cavities with special ties, a mixture of ply web, and metal lattice joists and insulative blocks in loadbearing sleeper walls.

The dwellings, certified to Passivhaus standard, are designed to consume significantly less energy than that of a standard new build home. By working in conjunction with independent certifier Piers Sadler, we integrated mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) systems that are simple and easy for the occupiers to operate.

Sustainable design aspects include a high level of thermal insulation wrapped continuously around the building, triple glazed windows, insulated doors, a heat recovery ventilation system, and solar thermal panels. A home user guide is also provided to each owner to support energy efficient dwelling operation.

Certified to Passivhaus standards, Picture House Court is a pioneering residential development of 26 high-quality new homes in south Bristol, featuring attractive street front retail and commercial space and a two-story undercroft parking.