De Boer, the semi-permanent structure specialist, has delivered the temporary market hall for the May Day Green Market in Barnsley, part of the Barnsley Council’s £57 million rejuvenation project.
The May Day Green Market will be temporarily rehomed in De Boer’s specially designed steel-framed structure for the next three years whilst the town centre is rebuilt. In total De Boer provided nearly 2,600 square metres of space in a main town location previously occupied by the Central Offices, the home of the Borough Council, which was demolished in 2016.
Robert Alvarez, De Boer’s Sales Director – Commercial, commented on the build:
“The temporary market in the heart of Barnsley posed some interesting building challenges, in particular, our temporary market hall uses the original concrete columns of the demolished Central Offices as its foundations. We worked with the Council’s engineer to create a steel sub-frame that was secured to the concrete foundations and, in turn, aligned with our steel columns at 6m intervals.
This interface meant we were able to maximise the whole footprint of the area without impacting on the day-to-day activities of a further sub-basement level which remained in daily use, serving an adjacent shopping centre.”
The temporary market hall uses a steel frame, constructed by De Boer, and is clad in insulated thermal panel cladding supplied by Kingspan. The De Boer construction team partially assembled the building offsite to minimise disruption within the local area and finished the building in situ, laying the floor and erecting the walls and roof.
Alvarez added:
“The beauty of the temporary market hall is that the whole structure can be reused and re-sited at a later date, anywhere in the county, once it is no longer required for the market. As this is a semi-permanent building it can be assembled and subsequently dismantled, providing a long term asset for the council which can use the structure for many years to come.”
As well as the new market hall, the rejuvenation scheme, known as ‘Better Barnsley’, will also include a new landscaped public square, a cinema, a central library, additional car parking and a new shopping boulevard.
Sarah McHale, from Barnsley Council, commented:
“When Barnsley Council started to look at the process of creating a temporary market area, it became apparent that specialist skills would be required to overcome the challenges created by the site. De Boer has been instrumental in providing the most efficient solution to keep the May Day Green Market, a vital part of our community, fully operational during this time of potential upheaval.”
