Cheesegrater reaches practical completion

Main contractor Laing O’Rourke has reached practical completion on the Leadenhall Building (Cheesegrater), an iconic addition to London’s skyline.

The building is 224m high and is made up of 18,000t of structural steelwork, 300 miles of cable and 75,000m² of cladding,

To overcome the challenges of a tight, central London location and lead architects’ Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners intricate design, Laing O’Rourke had to adopt a pioneering methodology with 85 percent of the building structure (by construction value) manufactured offsite – which is said to be unprecedented for a City skyscraper.

The building’s distinctive yellow northern core, which houses 20 passenger lifts including some of the world’s fastest scenic lifts, was built by steelwork contractor Severfield (UK) using 138 table shaped components manufactured offsite and each weighing 35t.

“Using highly accurate fabrication methods by Severfield (UK), an entire north core floor lobby, including columns, slabs and building services were installed with just three crane lifts in a matter of hours,” commented Graham Aldwinckle, Associate and Lead Structural Engineer for the North Core.

The building is on course for its expected opening in early 2015.