Steel up for City of London Academy extension

Structural steelwork erection has been completed for an extension at the City of London Academy Highgate Hill that includes a multi-purpose hall and teaching spaces.

Working on behalf of main contractor Galliford Try, Snashall Steel Fabrications has fabricated, supplied and erected 250t of steel for the project.

The new steel-framed building will provide a school hall and dining area on the ground floor, with new teaching spaces on the first and second floors. The third floor will provide social and study space for sixth form pupils as well as further general classroom spaces.

Squeezed into a plot surrounded by existing school buildings and a thoroughfare, the project team have had to overcome a number of logistical challenges.

“We only have one access route into our site, from a residential street, which at times has parked cars along both sides, making it quite narrow,” explains Galliford Try Project Manager Ralph Mills.

“It can be tricky getting delivery trucks to our project, so we have had to manage the size of steel members so they can be manoeuvred through the street and then into the site.”

Forming the roof of the double-height main hall are four 16.6m-long x 1.4m-deep trusses. Each weighing 5t, the trusses were delivered to site as complete units and represented the longest pieces of steelwork that could be delivered to the project.

The new school building is due to be ready for teachers and pupils in time for the 2023 Autumn term.