16 NSC
July/Aug 19
Said to be the UK’s third largest retail
and leisure centre, the intu Trafford
Centre in Greater Manchester is
currently redeveloping its Barton
Square mall.
Built at a cost of £90M, Barton Square
opened in 2008 (10 years after the main
centre) as an annexe for furniture and
homeware stores and it is connected to the
main Trafford Centre via a glazed footbridge.
Originally, the steel-framed Barton
Square (erected by William Hare) was
conceived as four separate retail blocks,
separated by open air malls and a large
central courtyard. The redevelopment will
see the malls spanned by steel-framed glazed
roofs, while an impressive 36m-diameter
steel and glass dome will cover the central
courtyard.
As well as the roofs and dome, the project
will also allow the upper level of Barton
Square to be used for further retail and
leisure uses, with new lifts, escalators and
walkways providing links.
“The two-storey blocks were futureproofed
in anticipation of mezzanine levels
Retail
Retail mall goes undercover
A £75M transformation of intu Trafford Centre’s Barton Square is in full swing, as a new
glazed roof and dome now span the previously open mall. Martin Cooper reports.
FACT FILE
Intu Trafford Centre’s
Barton Square
redevelopment,
Manchester
Client: intu
Client architect:
Leach Rhodes Walker
Design & build
architect:
Corstophine + Wright
Main contractor:
Vinci Construction
Client structural
engineer:
Mott MacDonald
Design & build
structural engineer:
Cameron Darroch
Associates
Steelwork contractor:
S H Structures
Steel tonnage: 1,350t
being added as there are 8m-high floorto
ceiling heights throughout and much
of the ground floor already has mezzanine
floors,” explains Vinci Construction Project
Manager Jonathan Roberts.
“There is also provision in the structure’s
steel-frame and the foundations for the
additional vertical loads resulting from the
roof structures and dome.”
Made up of 1,354 individual steel pieces,
the dome is the centrepiece of the scheme
and has been formed with plate girder
rafters, 200mm × 200mm SHS purlins and
80mm x 80mm SHS glazing bars.
The dome structure was erected in small
sections to due to the complex nature of
its shape. The erection process utilised
a temporary steel prop to hold the steel
sections in place during the assembly. Only
when all of the dome’s sections were fully
connected, could the prop be removed and
the glazing programme begin.
As well as plate girders, a series of
bifurcated RHS main ribs form the dome
and support SHS ring purlins, RHS eave ties
and a top ring.
“The utilisation of a bifurcated detail
for the main ribs allowed the radius of the
top ring to be minimised and also meant
that the main ribs could be lifted in pairs,
which was beneficial in terms of the erection
programme,” says Cameron Darroch
Associates Director Neil Darroch.
A temporary prop
supports the dome
during steel erection
Glazing installation
proceeds on the
steel-framed roof
You can view
drone footage of the
Barton Square scheme at
http://www.
newsteelconstruction.com/
wp/bar ton-square-video
/Leisure_buildings
/Design_of_steel_footbridges
/Braced_frames
/Retail_buildings
/Steel-supported_glazed_facades_and_roofs
/Steel-supported_glazed_facades_and_roofs
/Single_storey_industrial_buildings#Mezzanines
/Steel_construction_products#Plate_girders
/Construction#Steel_erection
/Steel_construction_products#Structural_hollow_sections
/
/
/