Integrated Civil & Infrastructure Research Centre (iCAIR)

A state-of-the-art research centre for the University of Sheffield.

Industrial & Logistics - The North, England

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Integrated Civil & Infrastructure Research Centre (iCAIR)

Project Overview

This state-of-the-art research centre for the University of Sheffield comprises a single-storey industrial workshop with office and amenity spaces. The workshop is split into two different sides, the ‘wet’ side and the ‘dry’ side.

The wet side houses a 45m long, 6m wide, 5m deep reinforced concrete pit with 600mm thick walls and base to allow for various experiments, involving drainage and wastewater.

The dry side has a 750mm thick, heavily reinforced concrete slab with cast-in sockets on a regular grid across the floor plate to provide the end users with multiple fixing locations for experiments.

The floor is heavily loaded and subject to large shear and moment forces.

Images © Bond Bryan Architects.

Services we provided:

Civils & Structures
Geotechnical & Environmental

Client:

University of Sheffield

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The Challenge

Designing a heavily loaded research workshop floor, specifically the 750 mm dry‑side slab and deep wet‑side pit, to safely resist very large shear and bending forces without cracking, deformation, or structural failure.

Our Solution

We used a thick, heavily reinforced concrete slab and pit structure, supported by detailed analysis, with added shear reinforcement and local thickening where needed to increase capacity, control cracking, and ensure the floor performs safely under high experimental loads.

Key Points

RIBA Stage 3 in accelerated timeframes
Extensive craneage (20T & 10T cranes)
Design of RC retaining walls to 0.2mm crack width for enhanced water tightness
Provision of cast in halfen channels to allow end users ultimate flexibility of fixing locations for reaction frames.