Fulham Pier is a major riverside destination on the banks of the River Thames, bringing together hospitality, leisure and public spaces within Fulham Football Club’s new development.

For The Outdoor Deck Company, the project involved the supply and installation of decking across the riverside promenade, level 01 brasserie external terrace as well as additional hospitality spaces above on level 05.

The project offers a useful insight into the challenges of designing raised decking for complex public spaces. We spoke to Craig Renwick (CR) from Mace Consult, who represented the client on the project, about the key considerations behind the external decking works.

What made the external spaces at Fulham Pier technically complex?

CR: The sheer scale of the project was a big part of it. Logistically, it was very challenging as we had the issue of removing the original paving solution whilst maintaining a clear route for the new decking system to be installed.

To achieve this, the whole of the level 05 external terrace had to be split into four zones. These had to be coordinated to ensure all operatives remained productive to maintain what was already considered as a tight programme.

The other challenge was the re-design of the low level services, ensuring adequate access was factored in for future maintenance. As well as electrical services, there were also mechanical services to consider which consisted of hot/cold water services, air-conditioning services as well as soil vent pipes.

A lot of consideration was given to coordinating access at the services re-design stage because of the complex sub-structure for the decking solution, which had the potential to cause clashes with the low level services.

How did the loading requirements affect the design?

CR: All of the deck solutions were required to accommodate both substantial point loads as well as wind loadings. The promenade in particular had point load requirements to accommodate vehicles up to 10 tonnes to facilitate emergency vehicles as well as to accommodate vehicular food trucks for match day operations.