Holdfast Training Services Trial Blog

I’ve been working on a project designing a variation of a demountable acoustic barrier for use between the entrance to TFL tube stations and busy roads.  It uses a new noise attenuation cassette produced by Echobarrier and potentially geopolymer or wood concrete base units and a titanium dioxide additive to the surface to reduce NOX levels.

The basis of our appointment is initially to act as structural engineers on the design and installation of a prototype.  The total budget for design and construction is 300k.  The real money will be made through IP rights and by successfully developing the prototype into a system that can be deployed more widely.  For this reason the project is relatively confidential so please don’t discuss outside the course (not that anyone is interested anyway).

Due to the low budget, initially, we need to stay close to existing systems to assist with the client risk appetite, ease of installation etc.  But we also need to demonstrate options for increasing beauty, function, speed of deployment, improvement to pedestrian safety, longevity, flexibility etc. and to that end i’ve had initial discussions with the architects and a small pre cast company specialising in low cost prototypes, and BRETT Group for delivery of a scaleable solution.

So far i’ve looked at design actions and produced the structural basis of design. All relatively simple stuff. Future work will look at the options for the concrete bases, and detailing for the connections between the posts and base (likely to include a cost comparison of bespoke cast in channels, and off the shelf resin anchor systems.

The snag is that funding has been put on hold currently, but we should get news later this week from the Client on when it might be re-initiated.