Frame up for Teesside University Digital Life building

Forming part of an ambitious masterplan, structural steelwork has been completed on Teesside University’s latest development.

The £40M Digital Life building, located in the heart of the Middlesbrough campus, will help support the demand for flexible learning, Continuing Professional Development and apprenticeships in areas including artificial intelligence (AI), immersive technologies, and digital sustainable engineering.

Designed by Hawkins Brown, the four-storey building will house state-of-the-art AI and robotics suites, virtual reality, cybersecurity laboratories, and animation & visual effects studios.

Working on behalf of main contractor Wates, Severfield sourced the steelwork from British Steel, and then fabricated, supplied and erected over 400t for the project’s steel frame.

Founded on a series of piled foundations, which are up to 18m-deep, the majority of the steel frame is designed around a regular grid. The building has perimeter columns set at 5m centres, which is said to be an optimal distance to support the composite cladding panels, while internally there are spans of up 10m.

The ground floor is a suspended slab, but above this are the upper floors and the roof which have a composite design of steel beams supporting metal decking and a concrete topping. The composite flooring’s diaphragm action provides stability to the steel frame, which works in conjunction with bracing strategically placed throughout the building.