A Look at Ashford Steel Projects
The historic market town of Ashford in Kent isn't a place that jumps to mind when we think of major steel construction projects. However, there have been some important steel constructions in and around the town over the years. Here we take a look at three of the most interesting ones.
Ashford's Biggest Steel Construction Story is Waterbrook Park
Ashford's biggest steel-construction story is Waterbrook Park. Nothing else in the town approaches its scale. The site on the eastern edge of Ashford combines large-scale logistics and industrial space with retail, leisure and roadside amenities, including one of the UK's first lorry parks built to support cross-Channel freight. It is perfectly positioned as a key gateway site for logistics and trade in the South East.
Waterbrook Park spans around 140 acres, and one recently consented building on the site has a gross internal area of around 11,816 sqm for the warehouse floor and mezzanine office alone.
The current master plan includes new commercial space across a further 45 acres of the wider site. Phase 2 alone offers design-and-build units ranging from 7,000 to 60,000 sq ft, with a 120,000 sq ft distribution unit also holding planning consent on part of the land.
Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, Dartford
Not far from Ashford is the single most iconic steel structure in Kent: the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge in Dartford. The bridge stretches 2,872 metres across the River Thames, connecting Dartford in Kent with Thurrock in Essex. Once the longest cable-stayed bridge in Europe: the first bridge built across the Thames downstream of central London since 1894.
It carries 84-metre-high steel pylons above 53-metre-high concrete piers, with a central span of 450 metres suspended 65 metres above the Thames to let ocean-going cruise liners pass beneath.
The bridge took three years to build, with Dr Hellmut Homberg designing the cable-stayed steel superstructure. It is a remarkable feat of steel fabrication, and a fitting tribute to the engineer behind it.
Panattoni Park, Aylesford: the Modern Era
Steel construction has moved on since the days of the QEII Bridge, and today's logistics boom has brought a standout recent example further along the M20 in Kent.
Panattoni began construction of a mammoth 752,823 sq ft speculative warehouse on the last remaining plot at Panattoni Park Aylesford, with planning consent for a further 400,000 sq ft of mezzanine space: at the time, described as the largest logistics building in the region.
The cross-docked shed was designed with 128 dock doors, 12 level-access doors and 754 car parking spaces. The wider Aylesford park, built on the former Aylesford Newsprint site, spans around 90 acres and delivers over 1.9 million sq ft of warehouse space.
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