Steel success story at London seat of learning

The London School of Economics’ (LSE) new £34M Academic Building opened for the Autumn term after an extensive remodelling which required 450t of structural steelwork and the installation of two Corefast modular cores.

The building totals 12,600m2 across 11 floors and is arranged in a U-shaped configuration around a glazed atrium.

The building’s original facades were retained while the internal structure was demolished and replaced with new floors suspended from a steel transfer truss at roof floor level. This provided an extensive column free 400 seat lecture theatre at basement level.

The 15t steel transfer truss is 17.5m long and is supported on two CHS columns which extend right through the new build section of the building. These columns are 559mm diameter at the lower levels, decreasing to 508mm diameter further up the structure.

The building was designed by Grimshaw Architects and built by Osborne, the engineer was Alan Baxter & Associates and the steelwork contractor was Bourne Steel.