Moving Buildings

Our client asked us to move a small Grade II Listed barn in Beaconsfield, without dismantling and re-assembling the barn. The foundations below the barn were non-existent, and the client wanted to avoid underpinning. The superstructure, comprising a series of load bearing timber studs, was very delicate. We developed a design whereby ply sheathing was screwed to the barn structure from the outside, and then an exo-skeletal trussed frame, designed and detailed by us, was constructed on the outside of the sheathing and then connected to the sheathing by installing fixings though the sheathing on the inside of the building. The exo-skeletal frame was designed to provide sufficient stiffness to the barn so that, when used in conjunction with four lifting beams (all in timber, and also designed by us), the frame would span to the building corners, supporting all of the original internal barn structure. We then developed a method statement for the lift. The barn was lifted from its original footprint in October 2012 to a safe area on the site where the delicate timber elements could be remediated. New foundations were constructed on the original barn footprint. By the time the timber remedial works were complete, the new foundations and ground floor structure was ready and the barn was lifted back in place onto its new foundations. With the permission of the local planning officer, the robust exo-skeletal frame remained, forming a permanent part of the structure that was over-clad by ship lap boards similar to the original boards. The original structure remained visible inside the property in its natural form.