New City landmark opens

The 18 storey BREEAM Excellent Aldgate Tower at Aldgate on the City fringe has opened, marking completion of a highly successful project where choice of a steel frame delivered substantial cost and programme benefits.

The new commercial block has provides Grade A office space with attractive rents at a location perched right on the edge of the City. The structure has been designed to a BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating and provides 16 floors of office space, plus two uppermost levels for plant equipment.

A steel solution allowed main contractor Brookfield Multiplex to construct the building on top of an existing raft foundation originally designed to support a smaller building.

“A steel frame supporting metal decking offered us the lightweight solution we required,” said Arup Project Engineer Ben Tricklebank.

A steel core starts at ground floor and sits on a transfer structure, comprising of 47t beams that distribute the loads to the raft’s concrete columns.

Externally, the buildings main facades are clad with a fully glazed, full height aluminium framed curtain wall system. Two 11KVA ring main units provide electricity to the building supplemented by a roof and façade mounted photo voltaic (PV) cell generation system.

In addition to the PV cells, the roof incorporates a brown roof system that utilises recycled products to create a natural habitat to attract and support wildlife.

The project was featured in New Steel Construction Jan/Feb 2014.