CORROSION

CONSERVATION

INSPECTION

MONITORING

CONSULTANCY
216 Church Road Urmston Manchester M41 9DX England

Tel/Fax: 0161 748 3644 Email: mail@rowantechnologies.co.uk Web: www.rowantechnologies.co.uk

Preston Bus Station and Car Park

(Assessment of Current Condition and Repair and Maintenance Costs) Introduction Rowan Technologies was requested by English Heritage to assess documents associated with the structural condition, and also the repair and maintenance costs, for Preston Bus Station and Car Park. This very large structure was built in the British Brutalist architectural style in the late 1960s and is constructed from reinforced concrete (RC). The structure is not currently listed although it is an iconic and unique building and many people consider it should be listed. The condition of the structure (in 1999) was reported by Thomas and Partners to be typical of what might be expected for its type, age and construction. However, they reported that significant costs were required to carry out, what they called essential repairs. In addition, they stated that the building falls short of todays requirements (Disability Discrimination Act [DDA] and Health and Safety [H&S] requirements) and additional costs would be required to bring the structure up to date to meet these requirements. Preston City Council has, in principle, made a decision to demolish the structure and replace it with a smaller bus station. English Heritage is again looking at the possibility of listing the structure and wish to have a re-assessment (from the reports) of the following items: 1. Structural condition 2. Costs for repair and maintenance 3. The viability of options for alterations and re-use Rowan Technologies was requested to provide advice on Items 1 and 2. Background The building was constructed in 1969/70. With an estimated life of 60 years it is currently 72% through its original design life. The structure comprises the bus station and small retail outlets on the ground floor and 9 levels of car parking (at 1/2 deck levels). The structure (190m long by 35m wide) was constructed using both pre-cast concrete and also in-situ concrete.

The bus station and car park is reported to be much larger than that currently required. The bus station has places for 80 buses and coaches although it was reported that a maximum of 35 places are ever likely to be required. The car park has a capacity for 1100 cars but only 350 are normally used. Assessment of the Bus Station Documents There are many freely available reports and other documents on the Preston.gov.uk website relating to the bus station and car park. The most important of these is the Structural Survey of the Bus Station Car Park carried out by Thomas and Partners in 1999. This report gives a full list of all defects to the structure, gives a limited amount of concrete analyses and also gives estimated costs for repairs. This report may have been updated as the repair costs have increased accordingly and presumably additional repairs are now required. The report does not address any possible internal structural defects, such as problems within the deck slabs or the possible requirement for desalination (or other techniques) to remove chloride salts from the concrete. The other report which was assessed was the Report to Cabinet on Preston Bus Station and Car Park PCC in December 2012. This gives up-to-date costs for both the repairs and bringing the structure up to the standard for DDA and H&S requirements. Structural Survey of the Bus Station Car Park (1999) The report gives a full listing of all defects. It states that the deterioration to the structure is due to the following: a) Lack of cover to the reinforcing steel b) Natural carbonation reducing the alkali protection to the steel c) The use of de-icing salts and penetration of chlorides into the concrete d) General weathering including freeze-thaw cycles The report states that the estimated cost for repairing the defects is 2.1M (1999 costs) although this does not include any possible internal structural defects within the car decks or any costs associated with chloride removal. Lack of cover to steel (a) is normal for RC buildings from this period and breakout and patch repair of some of these areas had already been carried out prior to 1999. These types of early life defects can usually be repaired on an ongoing basis. Natural carbonation of the concrete (b), and subsequent corrosion of the underlying steel reinforcing bars, is what usually determines the long term life of the structure. When this carbonation front (depth) approaches the mean depth of the steel reinforcements the building will be approaching the end of its life as the only alternative would be to replace all of the concrete cover to the steel. Typical values for carbonation are reported to be between 2 to 6mm, with a maximum of 14mm, whereas typical values of concrete cover to the steel are around 35 to 45mm. This suggests that the concrete structure is of a high standard and that carbonation should not be a limiting factor to the buildings life. The rate of carbonation into the concrete decreases with increasing depth, so the next 44 year should result in the carbonation front increasing into the concrete cover by only 1 to 3mm. However, some of the concrete beams were found to have very low cover (less than 10mm), such as the beams and columns which were pre-cast, and these have been subject to corrosion of the steel reinforcements.

The concrete analyses show many areas with high chloride levels (c). These were mainly on the 2nd to 6th level car decks (without waterproofing), but also on columns on the 1st deck. The threshold for corrosion by chlorides is 0.4% by weight of cement or 0.06% by weight of concrete. A large majority of concrete samples showed values well above these levels, especially for the horizontal car decks. The majority of the chlorides will be due to the presence of de-icing salts; either directly from the de-icing grit distributed by the car park attendants during freezing conditions or from salts carried in on the tyres of cars and which subsequently drip off onto the unprotected car decks. Decks 1 and 2 and also 8 and 9 have been provided with water proofing (asphalt) and this appears to have protected the car decks from chlorides contained in the de-icing salts. However, decks 3 and 4 have been affected by chloride salt ingress and subsequent corrosion. Other sampled areas on columns and parapets also showed high chloride measurements and these were taken from the same sampling hole, i.e. at various depths into the concrete. This suggests that in some areas the concentration of chlorides is fairly uniform within the body of the concrete cover. The presence of some of the chlorides in the concrete might therefore be due to the use of calcium chloride additives used during the original construction; it was used to accelerate the setting process during cold weather conditions. This was commonly used in the 1960 to 1970s prior to it being banned. General weathering of the concrete (d) occurs throughout the life of an RC structure and any of these types of defects can usually be repaired on an ongoing basis. Report to Cabinet on Preston Bus Station and Car Park PCC in December 2012 This report was prepared by the Corporate Management Team of Preston Council. It combines data derived from all other reports. This report describes the bus and car park as being in a poor condition. It reports the estimated cost for the essential repairs (those as given in the 1999 report) as now being 5.5M to provide an additional life of 10 years. Presumably this includes inflation from 1999 and also further defects discovered during the past 14 years. However, this cost does not include any internal structural problems which may be found. The report includes data from a Jacobs report (November 2012) which said that the cost to repair and upgrade the bus station and car park (to todays standards) would be 17M to 23M - to provide an extended life of 20 years. This includes the cost for repairs and also additional work to comply with H&S and DDA compliance. They also said that the cost to demolish the bus station and car park and to provide a new smaller bus station and ground parking (for 350 cars) would be 10.5M to 14.7M and this would provide a life of 60 years. This option would still allow 50% of the site to be re-developed at a later stage. Site Visit to Preston Bus Station A site visit was made to Preston Bus Station by Dr D. Farrell, of Rowan Technologies Ltd, on the 12th February 2013. Keith Weston and Jonathan Kiely, structural engineers from English Heritage were also in attendance. The weather was somewhat cold but sunny during the visit and the environmental temperature was recorded as 4C. The visual inspection started on the top deck (level 9) and worked downwards to the ground floor. Levels 9 and 8 had an asphalt waterproof layer and this was still in an excellent

condition after 44 years exposure to the weather. Visual damage to the decks was minimal. No significant corrosion damage was identified on the 9th level, with the exception of a few cracks due either to movement or shrinkage. There were a few areas of fairly localised damage to the concrete on the 8th floor, mainly concerning low cover to the steel (5 to 10mm). Patching up had been carried out in a few places, almost certainly due to low cover. The car decks to levels 7 to 3 had not been provided with a waterproof (asphalt) layer. Level 7 showed two main areas of damage to two pre-cast units, and smaller areas of damage to other units. Both of these main areas were coincident with the access ramps, suggesting that some form of mechanical damage may have contributed to the problem. Mechanical damage often results in cracking which accelerates the carbonation of the concrete, resulting in early corrosion of the steel and subsequent delamination. Some areas of the damage had been patched up with some form of proprietary concrete repair mortar; these had failed. There were also other areas which showed corrosion as a result of low cover. The actual car deck on level 7 appeared to be in a good condition. Levels 6, 5, showed a number of localised areas where the corners of pre-cast units had suffered from significant corrosion and delamination. The damage was almost identical on similar units, suggesting that the problem may have been initiated by mechanical damage when the car park was originally built or due to in-built defects when the pre-cast units had been cast. There were also other areas of damage resulting from low cover to the steel. Much of this damage was due to low-lying stirrups. There were other areas of corrosion associated with rainwater leaking between the pre-cast units resulting in excessive carbonation of the steel. Again, the car decks for levels 6 and 5 appeared to be still in a reasonable good condition. The RC generally on levels 4 and 3 was generally in a better condition than levels 5 and 6. The amount of localised corrosion (and delamination) was lower. However, much of the concrete floor had been roughly patched up. There was no visible sign of corrosion on the car deck and it is not known if this damage had resulted from a) run off of de-icing salts from car tyres, leading to chloride ingress and accelerated corrosion of the steel or b) general mechanical damage due to turning of car wheels and in the absence of the soft asphalt layer. Possibly a combination of the two might have been responsible. Levels 2 and 1 (which are widely used for parking) had been provided with an asphalt waterproof layer and this had protected the concrete from both chloride ingress and possibly mechanical damage due to car movement. The layer was still in a reasonable good condition although it had suffered deterioration in places. Surprisingly, the amount of corrosion related damage was very limited, despite the high levels of chlorides which had been reported for these floors. There were a few areas, such as the base of columns around the entry and exit ramps (to the main car park) which showed both cracking and delamination. This is almost certainly due to the use of de-icing salts for the ramp areas during freezing weather. The rest of the decks on levels 1 and 2 were found to be in a surprisingly good condition. The limited visual assessment of Preston bus station and car park did not indicate any potential areas where internal structural defects may be prevalent. However, it is recommended that a full structural survey be carried out.

Around 30 to 35 coaches and buses were either parked up or in use during the visit. Car park levels 7, 8 and 9 had been cordoned off, most probably to stop anti-social behaviour occurring when they are not in regular use. However, the level 6 car park was quite busy and all other car decks were full during the Tuesday morning visit in the middle of February. Discussion There is documentary evidence on both the current condition of the bus station and car park and the repair and maintenance costs to give both an extended 10 year life (5.5M) and also an extended 20 year life (17M to 23M) to the structure. The latter cost includes compliance with H&S and DDA. All of these costs assume that there is no internal structural defects to the building which may require further work and that measures, such as desalination, will not be required to extract chloride salts out from the concrete. Much of the localised damage is a result of low cover to the steel in combination with carbonation. However, the depth of carbonation is relatively low for a structure that is 44 years old and this is unlikely to restrict its future long-term life. Other areas of localised damage appear to be due to either mechanical damage (when the pre-cast units were installed) or defects when they were cast. These can readily be repaired. The other major concern is the high level of chlorides in parts of the concrete. This is of more concern. The presence of chlorides is most probably due either to the use of de-icing salts on the car decks (by the car park operators) or road salts dripping off the wheels of cars, or a combination of both. Most car parks now have waterproofing (asphalt) on all car decks to stop this happening (as in the case of levels 1 to 2 and 8 to 9). The visual assessment of the unprotected decks showed that they had regularly been repaired by breaking out the chloride contaminated concrete and replacing it with new concrete. This is most probably the best way of preventing on-going corrosion of the embedded steel mesh when the deck has not been waterproofed. No obvious signs of on-going corrosion on the unprotected decks were observed during the visit The limited visual assessment of the RC at Preston bus station and car park showed that the damage appeared to be significantly less than had been expected. The structure was found to be in a reasonably good condition and the damage to the RC was found to be relatively localised. With suitable repairs the structure could enjoy another 50 years of use. The cost of the repairs to the RC is likely to be significantly less than the estimated costs given in the various reports. Conclusions The following conclusions can be made from this limited assessment: The current condition of Preston bus station and car park is better than that described in the various reports. The cost for repairing the damaged reinforced concrete elements within the structure is likely to be significantly less than that given in the reports. With suitable repairs Preston bus station and car park could enjoy an extended life of 50 years. Dr D.M. Farrell Rowan Technologies Ltd 13th February 2013