Elm Lodge, London

The first of a programme of four projects by the Ealing Care Alliance for the London Borough of Ealing, the 75 bedroom, £4.6m Elm Lodge was designed and constructed under a Private Finance Initiative. The building is a four-storey elderly care home together with a resource centre for use by residents and non-residents alike. The building is constructed on the site of an existing home dating from the early 1970s that had become vacated.

Because of the depth of made ground on the site, the foundations are piled and the ground floor is suspended. The superstructure to the residential part of the scheme is of timber frame construction and was designed and constructed by a specialist supplier. The superstructure to the resource centre is steel framed and was designed by Thomasons. The building is clad in facing brick. We provided structural engineering advice on the design of the external masonry envelope, the design of balconies and external canopy structures.

Thomasons provided both civil and structural engineering services on this project and is providing similar services on the three other care home projects. The construction cost of the four projects is estimated as between £16m and £17m.