City Hotel, Derry

The structure comprises an eight-storey, reinforced-concrete frame with external cladding of brick/block cavity construction.  The building is founded on 600mm diameter continuous-flight, augured piles and reinforced concrete ground beams.  Car parking is provided at basement floor level, with the ground floor largely consisting of foyer, bar/dining room areas and kitchens.  The first floor contains offices, meeting rooms, conference hall, swimming pool and leisure facilities.  Upper floors largely consist of bedrooms with some areas of plant on roof terraces, where the building steps back. 

There is a void at the centre of the building allowing natural light into inner bedrooms, the superstructure slabs are of flat slab construction, 275mm deep, and are supported on reinforced concrete columns and walls.  The inner leaf of the external walling is built off the slab at each level.  The outer leaf is supported on a continuous masonry support angle at various levels.  Lateral stability is provided by a system of internal reinforced concrete shear walls, which are designed to act as vertical cantilevers.  Lateral loads exerted by wind pressures are resisted by these shear walls and are transferred through the slab and columns down to the foundations.

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