Conversion of a 1964 ATCOST concrete frame building into 8 modern units to rent in Wokingham Berkshire.

The concrete portal framed building was originally made by a company called Atcost

Originally the factory was about 10,000 sq/feet.

The idea of the conversion was to divide the building into smaller multi-purpose units that could be rented out to small businesses in the Wokingham area.

The original concrete portal framed building had 10 bays. One bay was taken down to allow for a larger car park at one end of the building.

With still limited parking at one end of the building each unit had newly constructed fronts recessed to allow a car or van to park outside and act as a loading bay.

Two offices for the owners were made at one end bay with undercroft parking.

The original brick two storey office at the road side was refurbished and the busy sandwich shop "Millars Fillers" that was started when the
factory was in the main building has been kept.

After conversion each unit is about 1000 sq/feet. Currently these fall below business rates.

Atcost concrete steel reinforced buildings with asbestos roofs were very popular in the 1970's and many are still around today.

Some of the concrete portal frames are farm buildings and some industrial. Most of these buildings are still structurally sound and can be converted to other uses.

The typical Atcost concrete framed building often had asbestos on the roof. The asbestos needs to be removed by a specialist licensed company.

The company we used for the asbestos removal was CPH Site Services www.cphsiteservices.co.uk

Asbestos roof and plasterboard liner was replaced with with Kingspan KS1000. Also installed was Kingspan Daylight roof lights.

The concrete gutter on these buildings is always a problem (leaking and overflowing) and the new kingspan roof was designed to go over the gutter.

A larger gutter can then be added, leaving the concrete gutter in place but hidden.

Irvin brothers ltd is looking to do more conversions of concrete portal framed building so if you have

one suitable or need help converting one please get in touch with James or Paul Wight

Early inspection of foundations of the reinforced concrete portal frame

Test holes in concrete floor to measure the thickness and construction.

Original Atcost asbestos roof on concrete portal framed building

Original Atcost factory and roof. The original roof had double skin of asbestos with a plasterboard liner on the inside.

All internal structures to the old factory were removed

Old mezzanine taken down and sold at auction

Two supports had minor damage these were repaired using concrex vertical high performance resin

The concrete gutters are part of the structure of the Atcost buildings.

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view inside of the concrete portal frame renovation

Concrete framed Atcost Building Renovation

End bay demolished to make car park larger. This was the old entrance to the factory.

One bay was taken away, this picture shows the internal rebar of the main roof concrete beam

Picture shows rebar in reinforced concrete post. Two posts were taken away from the end to make a larger car park.

Asbestos roof removed from steel reinforced concrete framed building

Scaffolding to supporting the end bay while foundations are reinforced.

Adding extra foundations for the steel frame for the construction of the offices

Pinning the new foundations to the existing.

Asbestos roof taken off

Steel "goalposts" to provide the lateral support that the brick walls gave to the building.

Over cladding old brick wall of first unit

Steel work for the office and undercroft car park

Joining the steelwork to the concrete frame.

Two offices for the owners with undercroft parking

Front office renovation

Office and cafe toilets refurbishment.

Front office renovation

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Metsec wall construction

KS1000 roof going on original concrete portal frame

Metsec wall construction with added wood infill to aid fixing items to the wall.

Metsec walls with wooden boards to help fix items to the wall, insulation and two sheets of plaster board each side.

Cladding the end offices and car park undercroft

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Bricks were chosen to cover the steel work and make an attractive and durable entrance to each unit. Bricks would create the look we wanted for "The Old Print Works"

Hormann supplied and fitted the roller doors and pedestrian doors

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units to rent wokingham

From the side the building looks like a new build

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