‘Going up’ with steel

Structural steelwork was the natural choice of material for the construction of the new Entrance and Sky Lifts, at Aston University, recently opened by The Rt. Hon. Lord Young of Graffham (Secretary of State for Employment).

The Architects, Hinton Brown Langden conceived the struc­ture to afford access to both the Main Building and the South Wing of the University and the structural design by Roy Bolsover & Associates employed some 120 tonnes of structural steelwork. both conventional and of tubular construction, all of which was fabricated by the old established Structural Engineer­ing firm of William Sharp, of Wal­sall.

The Sky Lifts, which are glass fronted, give a panoramic view of the surrounding district and run between the structural steel supports which are deliberately exposed to view, as is the “Space Frame” construction of the Entrance Lobby, whilst the connecting landings to each floor are fully glazed.

The main structure was erected in a remarkably short time of 4 weeks, which enabled the pro­ject to be speedily completed.

Originally published in
STEEL CONSTRUCTION
November 1986