The Bear Lane project is an eight storey commercial office development in Southwark. The site is on former Network Rail (NWR) owned land immediately adjacent to a brickwork viaduct carrying the main Thameslink railway line through central London. CRE8 Structures is appointed as the structural and geotechnical engineering consultant.


The proposed office building has a single storey basement over the entire site. The basement abuts two existing buildings and the railway viaduct, and so careful consideration has been given to ensure that the construction of the basement does not cause distress to these surrounding structures. The basement retention system is a secant pile wall which also acts as a groundwater cutoff and as support for the perimeter.

The form of the superstructure is designed to maximize the lettable space and to conform to the rights of light (ROL) envelope dictated by the surrounding properties. This has led to a building with a stepped form, cut back at the upper levels to follow the ROL envelope as closely as possible. On the elevation facing the railway viaduct, once above the train running envelope on top of the viaduct, the building projects out towards the railway, to maximize the floor area. In order to keep the building frame structurally efficient, inclined columns have been adopted in order that all the upper floor slabs do not need to cantilever.