Kantor Centre of Excellence

Project Info

Interiors: Studio Ilse

The Kantor Centre of Excellence, the first centre of excellence for children and young people’s mental health in England, is a 3,200m2 new-build and refurbishment project on a restricted site.

The new structure wraps around an existing chocolate factory dating from 1915 and incorporates a double basement with two storeys at the rear, and a single basement with six storeys at the front. The composite timber and concrete structure utilises the lightweight
and low carbon qualities of timber while taking advantage of the properties of concrete. The existing building has been extensively reconfigured, with double height spaces created between existing floors, openings formed to connect new and old, and an existing masonry stair core replaced with RC slab infills, with a new stair built in another location. A concrete frame used for the basement and ground floors creates a plinth. From the first floor up to the
roof, the structure is a beech GL70 laminated veneer lumber frame combined with timber concrete composite floors.

To achieve the composite action, the timber elements were erected and propped before landing the precast planks. Coach screws were installed into the top of the joists to act as shear connectors before in-situ concrete stitches were cast to form the shear connection between the elements.