St James Hospital Car Park, Leeds

With a floor space of some 67,000m² the St James Car Park boasts 11 storeys, including a number of lower level floors. Providing over 1200 spaces it is built to the rear of a new Oncology wing for patients, staff and visitors.

The site proved particularly challenging, located over a domestic waste landfill which was actively producing high levels of methane.  With landfill depths to 18m, the piled foundations had to consider the natural water supply and provide a dilution and dispersal system which would allow the gas to disperse at safe levels. The solution was to design a cross flow ventilation system which successfully avoided introducing an expensive sub membrane mechanical venting system.