SSDA 50th Anniversary
NSC 11
July/Aug 18
Clyde Canal with the Union Canal.
The wheel concept consists of two arms
fixed to an axle. The end of each arm
forms a ring within which two gondolas
rotate. The fact that the main structure is
a continuous rotating machine means that
the principal stresses within the majority
of the rotating structure fully reverse each
cycle of the wheel.
Additionally, as the gondolas are
supported on four wheels within each
arm ring then the rolling loads generate
four load stress cycles on the gondola rail
support structure every revolution. These
fatigue limitations dominated the arms and
axle structural design.
To accommodate these high fatigue
cycles a combination of bolted and welded
construction was adopted. This allowed the
ring beam supporting the gondola rail to
be a compact construction with the beam
diaphragms bolted to the flanges and only
welded at the mid third of the beam webs.
The structure, including the gondolas,
was designed to eliminate all site welding
and facilitate the full works trial erection of
critical elements.
The wheel was delivered to site by road
in some 40 major components. The longest
element was approximately 21m, the widest
5m, the highest 5m and the heaviest 80t.
Working on behalf of the client British
Waterways and main contractor Morrison
Bachy Soletanche JV, the project’s steelwork
contractor was Butterley.
With steelwork fabricated, supplied
and erected by William Hare, the
Wellcome Trust Gibbs Building in London
was designed to bring the company’s
administrative team together in a single,
comfortable and inspiring workplace.
The building comprises two parallel
blocks of open-plan, flexible, office space,
separated by a 9m wide atrium. A 10-storey
18m-deep block addresses the Euston Road
bypass, while a 9m-wide 5-storey structure
fronts Gower Place.
Almost entirely clad in glass, the building
incorporates a sophisticated series of triple
glazed prefabricated façade cassettes,
which, while unifying the building through
their carefully considered proportion and
repeated bay composition, help to reduce
solar gain and heat build-up.
This component, combined with assisted
ventilation through the atrium and high
day-lighting levels helped achieve a
BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating.
The building is said to be exemplary
in its detailed execution, demonstrating
the highest order of integration. With no
excess, no redundancy and no fuss, the
building responds to brief with efficiency
and discipline, while producing a working
environment that is materially spatial and
functionally rich.
The SSDA judges said, this 22,000m2
building in the heart of London is a most
successful outcome of structural and
architectural design, with steelwork at the
core of the solution.
A full list and description of all Award
winners can be found at: https://www.
steelconstruction.info/SSDA_2018_-_50th_
Anniversary_Year
The 2018 Awards, which are jointly
sponsored by the BCSA and Trimble
Solutions (UK) Ltd, will be announced in
early October.
Lou Armour/Shutterstock
The Wellcome Gibbs
Building consists of
two parallel structures
A large atrium is one
of the main features
of the Wellcome Gibbs
building
The Falkirk Wheel is
now one of central
Scotland’s most
popular tourist sites
Matt Brown / Flickr
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