Scottish academy starts with steel

Forming part of the ongoing hub Scotland initiative, a new steel-framed secondary school is being delivered in the Fife town of Anstruther.

Working on behalf of main contractor BAM Construction, BHC has started erecting the project’s main frame and it will ultimately install 520t of steel

Replacing the existing school, the new steel-framed structure will also provide a home for the council’s local office, a library, a base for police officers, and so the project is officially known as The Waid Community Campus incorporating Waid Academy.

Typically, the ground floor of the building houses the community facilities with the school occupying the first and second floors, with one of the exceptions being the dining area which is located within the centrally located atrium.

Steelwork contractor BHC’s steel tonnage equates to approximately 1,400 individual pieces, requiring 2,850 connections and a grand total of 16,822 bolts.

During its15-week erection programme, BHC is using two 80t-capacity mobile cranes, in conjunction with various sized MEWPs, to erect the entire steel frame and install metal decking and precast planks.

The building is roughly square-shaped on plan with each elevation measuring approximately 65m-long. For the erection programme the building is divided into three zones, with each one completed to its full height before BHC moves onto the next zone.

The steel frames’ columns are spaced at 7.5m intervals to form the teaching area and are brought to site in 12m lengths corresponding to the overall height of the structure and providing effective robustness for the category 2B structure.

Occupying two thirds of the structures central zone is a full height atrium. This part of the building is formed by five 30m long  × 1.8m deep steelwork trusses, which had to be spliced at mid-span to facilitate transport to site in two pieces for subsequent assembly on site prior to being lifted into position.

Waid Academy is scheduled to be open in time for the 2017 autumn term.