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Industrial2024

Headington Quarry Warehouse

Steel-framed distribution unit in Headington

Steel-framed distribution unit with 12m clear internal height, a fitted first-floor office and a 40-space yard.

New build services
A steel frame going up on a new build site

Project facts

Client
Regional logistics operator
Location
Headington Quarry, Oxford
Contract type
Design and build
Contract value
£3.1m
Floor area
2,800 m²
Clear height
12m
Completed
November 2024

01 — The brief

Twelve metres clear on a quarry floor

A distribution unit with 12m clear internal height, a fitted first-floor office and a 40-space yard — on a former quarry with fill of unknown depth across two thirds of the plot.

The operator had a lease running out and a fixed date to move. The ground investigation came back after the contract was signed, which is the wrong order and had to be worked with rather than argued about.

02 — Delivery

Foundations designed twice

Fill depth ranged from 1.4m to 6.8m across the footprint, so the frame was founded on vibro stone columns under the shallow half and driven piles under the deep half, with the slab detailed to span the change.

Redesigning the foundations cost five weeks. Ordering the frame against the original grid rather than waiting for the ground works recovered four of them, and the office fit-out ran alongside the cladding.

  • Fill from 1.4m to 6.8m deep
  • Vibro stone columns and driven piles
  • Slab detailed across the transition
  • Frame ordered against the original grid
  • 40-space yard with HGV turning
  • Handover one week inside the lease

03 — The outcome

Into the building before the lease ran out

FF Construction handed over the £3.1m, 2,800 m² Headington Quarry Warehouse in November 2024, one week before the operator’s existing lease expired.

The five-week foundation redesign was absorbed within the contract programme. The final account settled at 2% above the tender figure, all of it ground works.

Gallery

What the ground turned out to be

  • A steel frame going up on a new build site
    Piling rig on the deep half of the plot.
  • A brick commercial extension wrapped in scaffolding at dusk
    The frame going up against the original setting-out grid.
  • Completed brickwork and glazing on a finished building
    The finished unit and yard, a week before the lease expired.

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