Design and construction of a six-storey, ramp-up, multiple-user warehouse in Singapore

A land shortage in Singapore means that multilevel warehouse facilities are the norm. This project involved the development of a six-storey, ramp-up warehouse with container parking in an existing industrial sector on the west side of Singapore’s main island with good connections to major road infrastructure. The new development allows a maximum load equivalent to 20kPa on every floor. The unusual development provides access for 40t long container vehicles on every floor, with container vehicle parking on the open rooftop. Mott MacDonald led both the civil and structural design and the mechanical and electrical design of the S$85M warehouse. Construction was completed in February 2016. This paper describes how the building was designed and constructed, addressing the challenges of a complex site with existing underground live utilities and surrounding buildings and a fast-track programme. These challenges also relate to the programme sequence and construction methodology, with the key objective of zero disruption to the live water mains running across the site. The client’s operational requirements, particularly the levelness and flatness of the floors, brought further challenges to the team. The design-and-build project had to be completed within 18 months. The design strategy adopted sought to minimise the design period. The time constraints pushed the whole team to work more closely with each other. Value engineering practices were implemented in various parts of the design.