Sevenoaks Basement

Sevenoaks Basement & Refurbishment – Basement with a View.

Nestled in the leafy suburbs of Sevenoaks was a fairly ordinary house but the owners had big ideas about transforming it into something incredible. The Clients wanted big bright spacious living but the splitlevel living built into a steep hill with lots of rooms limited what was feasible. The Architectural Concept was to extend the rear to double the size and add a spacious basement with fully glazed walls opening out onto the splitlevel garden with a new loft conversion. Achieving the design concept required very difficult and complex construction and that’s the ideal project for MJ Rooney 

Construction Solutions. 

Construction Solutions were needed for complex problems in every part of this build and MJ Rooney systematically worked through them using their experience and expertise of complex temporary works and some cleaver Engineering. The main problems in realising this Sevenoaks Basement were as follows; 

  1. Can you convert a trussed roof into a loft conversion?
  2. Can the concrete floors be supported and still open the space up?
  3. Can the basement be dug deep into the steep hillside? 

 

Trussed Roof Loft Conversion? Is it Possible? 

Truss roofs are traditionally used on housing estates as lowcost roof construction formed of lots of small timber sections in triangles to support the roof. The problem is that this form of roof construction can’t really be converted as removing members destroys the integrity of the overall structural design. All other contractors that saw the project said that the whole roof needed to come off, but MJ Rooney saw a solution to convert the space internally by reinforcing the existing trusses with steel to make bespoke flitch trusses between a system of temporary works. Trussed roof conversion into living space is possible with careful Engineering design of both permanent and Temporary Works and an experienced construction company.

 

3D Construction brings solutions 

MJ Rooney can achieve very complex construction because every small detail is first built in a 3D model which is then converted to a 4D model (time being the 4th dimension). The exact sequence of building is modeled to make sure the whole build will work before the site works commence. Once the solution is tried and tested in a virtual environment the works will commence on site. Every member of the team from Carpenters to Managers have the model available on ipads and mobile phones so that the system is fully understood from start to finish.   

 

Can you retain a concrete upper floor and open up the space below? 

The next complex design problem was at first floor level which was constructed of concrete block and beam. The proposal was to completely remove and replace the floor to be able to open up the space below into a 100m2 living space with lounge dining and kitchen space all together and opening out onto a large terrace via full glass wall of bronze casement windows.  

MJ Rooney designed a system of temporary works that enabled us to keep the floor in place while removing the walls below and install a new supporting steel structure. Again, a complex solution was delivered with simplicity by designing in 3D and modeling the sequence of works over time with 4D design software. The works were completed with safety and efficiency at the forefront of design. 

 

Deep Underpinning Solutions. 

For this Sevenoaks Basement the first works to be completed was the underpinning and again, where other Engineers and builders said it couldn’t be done, MJ Rooney found a solution that allowed a new section of basement below the central core of the stairs to allow the stairs to spiral down into the basement without removing the floors above. Our highly experienced and trained underpinning team formed a system of ground supporting earthwork supports which prevented structural movements to the main building while new basement was formed. 

The final solution brought a flow to the internal circulation making the bright spacious basement an integral part of the house with this level used for leisure space with a glazed wall of Bronze Casement Windows opening out onto the garden terrace space. 

 

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