Tapiwa Gavaza

I am leading the Civil Engineering design for the Alton Estate Regenaration project a joint venture between Redrow Homes and Wandsworth Council. The regeneration scheme is situated on the 31 arcre Alton Green estate where it will deliver over 1,100 new affordable and private homes. The proposed Urban Quarter will feature a new village square and a multi-purpose community building to host the new Roehampton Library, a modern health centre, spaces to rehouse the BASE Youth Club, and a new… Show more

I am leading the Civil Engineering design for the Alton Estate Regenaration project a joint venture between Redrow Homes and Wandsworth Council. The regeneration scheme is situated on the 31 arcre Alton Green estate where it will deliver over 1,100 new affordable and private homes. The proposed Urban Quarter will feature a new village square and a multi-purpose community building to host the new Roehampton Library, a modern health centre, spaces to rehouse the BASE Youth Club, and a new community hall. When built in the 1950s, the Alton Estate was internationally recognised as an examplar modernist housing of its time.

The services that we are providing include the whole wrange of infrasture services; S278 junction modifications works, estate wide S278 / S38 highway works, estate wide levels and earthworks design, adoptable and private drainage works. We will also be providing Transportation including Road Safety Audit services.

The site is truly any engineers dream, it is marked by steep descending falls both laterally and also along its width. Providing a canvass for great and genuine engineering that creates placemaking, preserves the landscape and creates public amenity. The fundamental issue here is to work with the undulating landscape, to preserve it, not to over-engineer, avoid unnecessary hard structures, make space for people to relax in and enjoy.

Other challanges are associated with the large Thames Water sewers running through the site which will need to be diverted and built-over in order to accommodate the proposed development. Indeed the site is littered with services including fibre optics, the issue here is to minimise the re-location road space in order to avoid diversion of services. This will mean challenging and testing the site constraints and some of the outline planning details. So we are tackling this project head-on, creating value, ensuring great place-making whilst contributing to the re-birth of this great estate. Show less

Working closely with both the Architect and Landscape Architect we managed to come up with an ambitious resolution to this constrained infill site. Conisbee was quick to highlght the requirement for a complete road re-alignment to maximise the site. The new dwellings will have private courtyard gardens addressing the street, which is designed to have the character of a mews lane, with paved surfaces shared by pedestrians and vehicular traffic. Sustainable drainage is sensitively incorporated… Show more

Working closely with both the Architect and Landscape Architect we managed to come up with an ambitious resolution to this constrained infill site. Conisbee was quick to highlght the requirement for a complete road re-alignment to maximise the site. The new dwellings will have private courtyard gardens addressing the street, which is designed to have the character of a mews lane, with paved surfaces shared by pedestrians and vehicular traffic. Sustainable drainage is sensitively incorporated within the hard paved areas and the flat roofs adding amenity and bio-diversity.

This project has been short listed for the 2019 National Housing Design Awards. Show less

Shortlisted in the 2019 National Housing Design Awards. Pablo Fanque House a new student accommodation block in the middle of Norwich. Conisbee undertook the civils and structures design including some intricate drainage and suds. I was the Civils design lead on this project, it being in the City Centre and on a site whose levels are retained by a 6m retaining to the rear it meant that the drainage, pavement and levels design had to be sensitive to these issues whilst also avoiding the… Show more

Shortlisted in the 2019 National Housing Design Awards. Pablo Fanque House a new student accommodation block in the middle of Norwich. Conisbee undertook the civils and structures design including some intricate drainage and suds. I was the Civils design lead on this project, it being in the City Centre and on a site whose levels are retained by a 6m retaining to the rear it meant that the drainage, pavement and levels design had to be sensitive to these issues whilst also avoiding the congested services and sewers to facilitate the final outfall.

The rear landscaped courtyard accommodating the drainage and suds also provides an amenity space for student residents, for social interaction or study in a calm, relaxing environment. Provision is made for cycle storage; cycle racks are tucked in close to the building and separated from the rest of the courtyard by a generous walkway, to maximize the amenity space available to residents. Show less

A great development for Telford Homes, on a very constrained site. Longitudinally the site had the Cross Rail Tunnel, Thames Water Sewer plus the London overground. Width wise the site had a 5m escapement which needed to be utilised to provide additional occupancy and provide external amenity space. I led in the design and specification of an earthworks and levels strategy that would facilitate the use of the steep descents between the proposed pavilions. In addition I came up with a… Show more

A great development for Telford Homes, on a very constrained site. Longitudinally the site had the Cross Rail Tunnel, Thames Water Sewer plus the London overground. Width wise the site had a 5m escapement which needed to be utilised to provide additional occupancy and provide external amenity space. I led in the design and specification of an earthworks and levels strategy that would facilitate the use of the steep descents between the proposed pavilions. In addition I came up with a comprehensive and sympathetic Suds strategy that incorporated a non-mechanical rainwater harvesting system. Other suds features included porous pavements, bio-diverse blue roofs, green walls and underground tanks. Other elements that I worked on included the road, sewer buildover agreement and utility coordination.

The earthwork levels were key in ensuring that lower units also enjoyed a south-facing view into the Site of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINC) but also protected it and preserved it in the long run on this steep embankment. The SINC within the development includes a self-seeded woodland, offering a significant contribution to the native urban woodland already found in Islington. The SINC is an important habitat for birds and is also well-used by the local community and schools. Show less

Woodside Square is a multi award winning residential development in the Musewell Hill Conservation Area. Owing to the steep site terrain from north to south it was possible to incorporate sub-terrain spaces and split level spaces comprising of the a large communal car park for the apartment block and garages, kitchens and living spaces for the individual townhouse units. Conisbee provided the Civils and Structures design for the site. My role was to undertake the detailed drainage and suds… Show more

Woodside Square is a multi award winning residential development in the Musewell Hill Conservation Area. Owing to the steep site terrain from north to south it was possible to incorporate sub-terrain spaces and split level spaces comprising of the a large communal car park for the apartment block and garages, kitchens and living spaces for the individual townhouse units. Conisbee provided the Civils and Structures design for the site. My role was to undertake the detailed drainage and suds design, levels and road design.

The suds scheme was sensitively designed to work well with the landscape strategy, address prevailing high ground issues, allow for rainwater harvesting for allotment use and management offsite discharge into the Thames Water sewers which had limited capacity. From planning to detailed design there was only a 3% increase in attenuation volume, indicating that a robust design strategy had been implemented right from the beginning of the project.
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Moreland Primary School is a brand new purpose-built school, nursery and children’s centre. The new school now accommodates 420 pupils, 56 place nursery and a children’s centre. The £12.4m development, carried out by Morgan Sindall, also included demolition of the existing school, which would remain in operation throughout construction.

Conisbee undertook the Civil Engineering design incudling a comprehensive Suds scheme, which incorporated the MUGA, rain gardens and attenuated blue… Show more

Moreland Primary School is a brand new purpose-built school, nursery and children’s centre. The new school now accommodates 420 pupils, 56 place nursery and a children’s centre. The £12.4m development, carried out by Morgan Sindall, also included demolition of the existing school, which would remain in operation throughout construction.

Conisbee undertook the Civil Engineering design incudling a comprehensive Suds scheme, which incorporated the MUGA, rain gardens and attenuated blue roofs.

On this project blue roofs were used to create attractive amenity and education on 1,200m2 of roof space. There the entire school roofs were designed to provide amenity space for playing, education science lessons and even children’s allotments, general staff and pupil enjoyment. The overall benefits were as follows:

• Elimination of underground attenuation tanks and a surface water pump requirement owing to shallower discharge depth.
• The installation of a bio-diverse blue roof system meant that the ecological requirements of Islington’s Biodiversity Action Plan could be met and this also allowed for attaining the Excellent BREEAM Rating for the School.
• Accelerated and phased construction programme was possible.
• The old existing school could remain open during the construction as the roof was self-attenuation and did not need external space for attenuation.
• Shortlisted for the following Awards – AJ Architecture 2017, Brick Awards 2017 and LABC – Best Educational Building, 2017.
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The development of a residential development in a flood prone hamlet of High Cross, Ware. I led the civil engineering design of this development that including a village wide flood study and the diversion of a local stream to elevate flooding and facilitate the development.

The development was on behave of David Wilson Homes and comprised the installation of 57 affordable and private homes on a greenfield site transversed by flood waters. The existing drainage nextwork was in a poor… Show more

The development of a residential development in a flood prone hamlet of High Cross, Ware. I led the civil engineering design of this development that including a village wide flood study and the diversion of a local stream to elevate flooding and facilitate the development.

The development was on behave of David Wilson Homes and comprised the installation of 57 affordable and private homes on a greenfield site transversed by flood waters. The existing drainage nextwork was in a poor state of repair mostly blocked or collapsed. In addition there was poor servicing of riparian ditches and drains by riparian land owners.

The success of the flood alleviation scheme has been transformational resulting in the area removing flooding from historically flood prone areas. This has also facilitate the promotion of development on historic flooded lands.

Other services provided include site wide drainage design, SUDS, road and levels design. Show less

Historical Background
Burgess Park is one of London’s largest green parks. The creation of the park was inspired by the Abercrombie plan and post-war optimism, the park was set up after the dereliction of hundreds of dwellings, factories and churches along a total of thirty adjoining streets which had been bomb damaged. The Grand Surrey Canal along the lengths of the streets was filled in and incorporated large piled mounds, which were grassed over to create the park. The park was officially… Show more

Historical Background
Burgess Park is one of London’s largest green parks. The creation of the park was inspired by the Abercrombie plan and post-war optimism, the park was set up after the dereliction of hundreds of dwellings, factories and churches along a total of thirty adjoining streets which had been bomb damaged. The Grand Surrey Canal along the lengths of the streets was filled in and incorporated large piled mounds, which were grassed over to create the park. The park was officially named Burgess Park in 1973. In subsequent years additional facilitates were made to the park such as the community sports facilities and the tennis centre.

Revitalisation
In 2010 Conisbee working together with Landscape Architects LDA Design were commissioned to undertake the redesign of the park to create more useable space and create more perforation. Additional play areas, a running track, barbeque areas, earth mound amphitheatre, lake extension and footbridge were to create better amenity.

I led the Civil Engineering design of this project that included extensive cut and fill earthworks of some 120,000 cubic metres of materials from the historic bomb demolition of the streets. I led the specification for the testing and categorisation of site-won earthwork materials to facilitate re-use under the CLAIRE Protocol and Specification for Highways Works. I led the engagement and consultation of both the EHO and the Environment Agency with the Geoscientist appointed to provide technical support. In addition I also recommended the specification of the watching brief of the Geoscientist owing asbestos and hydrocarbon contamination that had been found on site. We managed to use most of the site-won materials with the exception of the contaminated 1,000 cubic metres of hydrocarbons from old dis-used oil tanks. This resulted in cost savings for the site with the resulting mounds forming attractive and purposeful mounds that are now attractive entertainment, sports and leisure use. Show less

I worked on the masterplan, planning and detailed infrastructure design for the consortium development led by Taylor Wimpey and David Wilson Homes on 160 Ha of essentially Greenfield farmland to the west of the urban areas of Didcot. The development proposals for the site include 3,300 new homes, a Secondary School, 2no. Primary Schools, 3no. mixed use centres incorporating shops, community buildings and homes. Public amenities include informal public open space and formal sports pitches… Show more

I worked on the masterplan, planning and detailed infrastructure design for the consortium development led by Taylor Wimpey and David Wilson Homes on 160 Ha of essentially Greenfield farmland to the west of the urban areas of Didcot. The development proposals for the site include 3,300 new homes, a Secondary School, 2no. Primary Schools, 3no. mixed use centres incorporating shops, community buildings and homes. Public amenities include informal public open space and formal sports pitches.

A major element of the masterplanning was to carryout a site wide surface water and Suds design. This was an integral part for the infrastructure package which needed to be well designed as it affected the landuse and assignment at a strategic level. In order to achieve the best land use, create amenity, increase bio-diversity and make space for water many of the principles in CIRIA C697 - The SUDS Manual were incorporated including many inspired engineering solutions.

Several strategic large infiltration basins were designed in order to provide regional flood and surface control. Land parcels were designed to facilitate attenuation with a control discharge into the ,main site wide surface water network. The parcel attenuation was kept to shallow depths by incorporating porous pavements allowing for both attenuation and infiltration. On site conveyance and surface water exceedance was kept shallow by incorporating swales and enhanced swales.

The scheme SUDS scheme has been used on many CIRIA case study tours as an examplar project, demonstrating both best practice and innovative SUDS design. Show less