Construction of a Hospital Building in Torres Vedras, Portugal
This building is a 7 storey building with 4 floors above the ground and 3 below with a total GFA of 4000m2. It is built in an area close to a river which required a competent foundation structure that can resist both the water pressure and the seismic actions.
This is a private financed project with an expected total cost of around 16million Euros and it is due to be completed at the end of 2011. It shall be a mark in the city of Torres Vedras as it combines an efficient building for the health service and a place that can enhance investigation and academic involvement in the radiologic research area. During the design stage, attention was given to the energy consumption and sustainability issues leading the way to a low energy building and an improved performance in the water treatment systems.
The Contractor QUINAGRE faced a major challenge when designing a type of foundations that could be efficient in its purpose but at the same time fast in its execution and within the project allocated cost for that activity. The solution was a combination of augercast pile and high capacity steel micro pile foundations inside the anchored retaining walls, where the micro piling serve as reinforcement in the area where pile were impossible to execute and it also solved some of the water infiltration problems that arose due to high water pressure.
The superstructure consists of unbounded post tensioned concrete slabs. The post tensioned cables enabled the slabs to be lighter both in concrete and in steel due to the fact that the cables are more effective in the most stressed points of the structure.
Joao Vinagre, Graduate Member in Portugal