London has more than 500 towers in the pipeline
Metsec launches new range of steel framing systems
The third of three steel-framed office
blocks in Snowhill, Birmingham, and
one of the UK’s largest speculative office
developments to be constructed outside of
London, is rapidly taking shape.
Sat next to its sister buildings, One and
Two Snowhill, Three Snowhill is a 19-storey
office tower that forms a stunning gateway
to the city’s business district, completing
the final phase of Ballymore’s Snowhill
Estate development.
6 NSC
May 18
Offering nearly 38,000m2 of BREEAM
‘Excellent’ rated Grade A office floor space,
together with retail and leisure units at
podium and ground floor levels, Three
Snowhill, like its sister buildings, has a
composite design comprising a steel frame
with cellular beams supporting metal
decking.
Working on behalf of main contractor
BAM Construction, Severfield is
fabricating, supplying and erecting some
4,500t of steel for this project.
The building wraps around a large
central atrium, which allows plenty of
natural light to penetrate the building’s
inner areas as it is topped with a glazed
roof.
This glazing also spans over the doubleheight
upper floor, creating a large lightfilled
breakout space.
Three Snowhill is due to complete by
Spring 2019.
voestalpine Metsec has launched a new range of
steel framing systems (SFS) that it claims reduces
both environmental impact and cost to customers.
The company said the range has undergone
stringent testing and assessments using multiple
board and insulation options coupled with the new
range of sections.
This data offers contractors the potential to
reduce project costs for framing by ensuring there is
no over specification on the project.
Ryan Simmonds, Sales Director of Framing
at Metsec, said: “We are taking a new approach
to our range of SFS framing systems. Today’s
buildings need to perform as efficiently as possible,
structurally, acoustically and thermally and be as
safe as possible in terms of fire performance.
“Our new products can offer improved design
efficiency. Over specification is something to be
avoided in any case, but in today’s cost-driven
market the need to ensure that designs optimise the
amount of material used is increasingly important.
“We have also placed a greater emphasis on
sustainability – this isn’t just about saving the planet
but looking at how sustainability translates into
real-world savings on-site such as transport and
wastage.”
The new range is BIM Level 2 compliant with
Kitemarks for both BIM projects and BIM objects.
News
London now has more than 500 tall buildings planned
and a record 115 under construction, according to
new research published by New London Architecture
(NLA).
The fifth NLA London Tall Buildings Survey, with
research partners GL Hearn and data provider EG,
reveals that, despite signs of a slowdown, London
has 510 tall (over 20 storeys) buildings proposed, in
planning or under construction, compared to 455 in
2016, and with 115 schemes under construction.
Half of the tall buildings pipeline is in east London
with 252, followed by central London with 99, and a
third from outer London.
GL Hearn Planning Director Stuart Baillie said he
was anticipating a boom of completions in the next
two years, but with Brexit and skills issues at the fore
that may be optimistic.
“We will have to see if the projected boom in the
next two years will happen,” he added.
Chairman of NLA Peter Murray said: “We continue
to see a steady increase in the number of tall buildings
coming forward and with London’s population
continuing to increase and the demand for new homes
only getting higher, our view remains that that well
designed tall buildings, in the right place, are part of
the solution.
“Uncertainties and challenges to deliver these tall
buildings remain, which is perhaps why we are seeing
a slight slowdown in the in the number of applications,
construction starts and completions.
“However, our reports over the past five years show
us that in the right places, towers allow us to use the
finite resource of land very efficiently.”
Latest Snowhill scheme nears topping out
/Braced_frames
/Multi-storey_office_buildings
/BREEAM
/Composite_construction
/Steel_construction_products#Cellular_beams
/Fabrication
/Construction#Steel_erection
/Steel-supported_glazed_facades_and_roofs#Atrium_Roofs_and_Sky_lights
/Steel-supported_glazed_facades_and_roofs#Glazing_systems_with_pressure_plates
/Operational_carbon
/Steel_construction_products#.27Light_steel.27_sections
/Acoustics
/Thermal_performance
/Fire_and_steel_construction
/Sustainability
/Fabrication#Handling_and_transportation
/Construction_and_demolition_waste
/Construction
/Cost_planning_-_Multi-storey_offices#Tall_buildings_.2820.2B_storeys.29
/Residential_and_mixed-use_buildings