Grantley Hall – Blending the old with the new

Employee-owned professional services company, GHD, is helping Grantley Hall recapture its elegant past as it embraces its future as a luxury hotel, spa and events venue.

The company is using cutting-edge skills, technology and design for this ambitious restoration of a Grade II* listed mansion house in North Yorkshire.

The team is carrying out the civil and structural engineering design against a challenging brief. The work includes restoration of the existing Hall and design of a new build facility that offers a spa, elite performance centre, accommodation, and basement office area. GHD has combined traditional structural engineering with leading digital design technology to help guide the client and stakeholders through the design solutions.

This use of building information modelling allowed easy agreement of design alterations and helped Grantley Hall truly feel the finished facility by walking through the virtual building in design before moving seamlessly into construction.

Andrew McPherson, General Manager at Grantley Hall comments, “GHD used industry leading 3D design technologies and worked collaboratively with our wider team to help us to achieve our project vision and aspirations. In particular, their preparation of live 3D walk through videos was invaluable and enabled us to “see” our project, influencing its form throughout the design development phase and well in advance of the construction commencing”.

Drawing on their extensive experience of restoring historic buildings, GHD worked closely with Grantley Hall, architect Bowman Riley, and the local authority conservation office. Together, they have successfully protected the old while embracing the new, with luxury facilities woven seamlessly into the refurbishment of the 18^th century Hall.

The team also carried out a range of assessments in order to identify both original features and later alterations, thereby determining how these elements depended on each other. This helped ensure that retained heritage features enhanced the surroundings without impacting on the structural integrity of the proposed new layouts.

GHD’s structural design expertise rose to the fore in a cost-effective and efficient structural design for the new spa and deep basement area. By using concrete flat slabs, the solution not only improved fire resistance and thermal performance, but also reduced running costs. Major propping works during the basement’s excavation helped overcome challenging ground conditions and protected the nearby listed building from impacts.

The design also involved specialist techniques to stabilise the ground when forming a below ground link. This is used for customers to move between the main hall and spa. GHD’s solution also improved the safety of construction by enabling underpinning without excessive water or soil ingress.

With the project progressing at pace, Grantley Hall is due to open in summer 2019.