Steel completes on sustainable City commercial scheme

The final steel beam for 2 Aldermanbury Square’s main frame has been lifted into place.

Working on behalf of main contractor Lendlease and client Great Portland Estates, William Hare has completed the structural steel frame for the 13-storey City of London office block.

With sustainability as a key element, the scheme is said to be reducing its embodied carbon by 36%, from its initial design. This has been helped by having a structural steel frame sourced primarily from electric arc furnace (EAF) production facilities, as well as making use of reused steelwork.

EAF steelwork is considered to be much greener and more efficient in terms of energy consumption for the production process, as it can utilise renewable energy from wind farms, while the process relies on recycled content. To this end and as much as possible, the design team specified steel rolled sections that are readily available from EAF sources.

Lendlease Project Director Tom Walker, says: “2 Aldermanbury Square has the potential to push the boundaries of embodied carbon reduction while delivering a workplace that responds to major market trends and the desires of tenants in a post-Covid world.”

The development sits on a plot previously occupied by City Place House, a steel-framed, 10-storey office block, which was demolished as part of the current scheme’s early works.

A quantity of steelwork was salvaged from the demolition and around 80t of this material has been reused on this project, with the remainder set to be utilised on another GPE central London development.

William Hare’s work is not complete as there are decking activities ongoing, painting works to be finished, crane infills to be installed and a plant deck to be erected in the New Year.

2 Aldermanbury Square is due to be complete by the end of 2025.