Salvation Army Sortation and Distribution Building

We were appointed to design a facility which could accommodate typical sortation applications including routing of clothing and other goods, movement of totes or palletised loads to and from static or automated storage systems, and packaging of items in preparation for transportation.

This was a fast-track project which needed to integrate a bespoke system for unloading, feeding and sorting donated items. This system had to be designed concurrently with the architectural and engineering building strategies to ensure building heights and spans were appropriate, and that drainage was located where it was needed.

Despite thorough pre-application engagement of planning officers, the local planning authority requested late changes including swapping the main entrance location to the opposite end of the building, and adding more curtain walling which required unforeseen adaptations to the building.

We developed designs collaboratively, working with SATCOL and its sortation and distribution system supplier, to develop our knowledge of the internal unloading, feeding, and sorting system. This included visiting other SATCOL sortation and distribution centres to understand the process and how our designs could accommodate this.

In response to the planning-driven changes, to ensure the project remained within budget, our team developed solutions to ensure that additional curtain walling required by the local authority could be added to the scheme within budget, while also not compromising on the overall required quality of the building.