New Steel Construction Technical
Digest now available online
Latest images show City of London’s evolving skyline
The City of London Corporation has
released updated images of how its City
Cluster skyline will look in 2026, assuming
six further towers are built.
The City Cluster is the area in the
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February 19
eastern corner of the Square Mile and is
home to some of London’s most iconic
skyscrapers.
A range of policies set to redefine the
area and the wider City of London are
currently out for consultation.
The Local Plan identifies seven
key areas of change where the City
Corporation will be promoting sustainable
growth. As one of the key areas of change,
the City Cluster will grow to close the gap
between 20 Fenchurch Street (Walkie-
Talkie) and the rest of the cluster of
towers.
Chris Hayward, Chairman of the
Planning and Transportation Committee
at the City of London Corporation,
said: “These images remind us that the
City’s skyscrapers are some of the most
recognisable structures in the UK. But
great cities are not made from great
buildings alone.
“The ambitious policy proposals
outlined in the Transport Strategy and
the Local Plan aim to resolve challenges
at street level, and in the river, air and
open spaces, as well as ensuring that City
buildings and infrastructure are more
robust than ever.
“These plans will play a central part
in shaping the future of the City of
London therefore it is vital that we hear
from the local residents, workers and key
stakeholders that will be impacted.”
Currently, seven major steel-framed
towers are under construction in the City,
while a further six are in the pipeline,
including 1 Undershaft which will top out
at 304m-high (73-storeys).
Manchester’s Hallé Orchestra is enlarging
its St Peter’s rehearsal and recording facility
with the construction of a steel-framed
extension that includes acousticallyisolated
practice spaces.
Located in Ancoats, Manchester the
three-level extension, to be known as the
Oglesby Centre at Hallé St Peter’s, will
provide a brand-new façade to the existing
facilities, which are housed in a former
church and front onto the adjacent open
plaza of Cutting Room Square.
Working on behalf of main contractor
HH Smith, BD Structures has recently
completed the steelwork erection
programme.
“The extension will provide additional
rehearsal facilities, practice rooms, café
function space and an exciting entrance
atrium offering direct views up towards the
existing church campanile tower,” explained
Stephenson Studio Project Architect Stuart
Hollings.
The form of the extension is said to be
expressed as a robust brickwork plinth at
street level that cradles the first floor main
rehearsal space. Most of the upper floor
will be clad with weathering steel fins,
allowing light to enter the rehearsal area
while making an exterior reference to the
industrial heritage of the local environment.
The extension’s upper floor rehearsal
room and two adjacent practice rooms
are floating box-in-box spaces, which are
acoustically-isolated from the primary
structural frame and slab. This is to prevent
sound transfer and ensure the highest
level of acoustic performance in these key
spaces.
The boxes have their own compositely
formed slabs, which are sat on acoustic
pads and allow the spaces to be separated
from the main first floor by a dividing and
insulated void of 20mm.
News
New Steel Construction’s (NSC) third
Technical Digest, which brings together
a year’s worth of technical guidance, is
now available for download at: www.
steelconstruction.info.
Helping to keep engineers and architects
up-to-date with the latest steel construction
related guidance, NSC’s Digest compiles
all the magazine’s Technical Articles and
Advisory Desk Notes from 2018, which can
be downloaded as a pdf or viewed online.
Advisory Desk Notes reflect recent
developments in technical standards or
new knowledge that designers need to be
made aware of. Some of them arise because
a question is being frequently asked of
the steel sector’s technical advisers. They
have always been recognised as essential
reading for all involved in the design of
constructional steelwork.
The longer Technical Articles cover
more detailed insights into what designers
need to know, often the result of legislative
changes or changes to codes and standards.
Sometimes it is simply felt that it
would be helpful if a lot of relatively
minor changes, perhaps made over a
period of time, were brought together in
one place, so a technical update is needed.
Some of the topics covered in last
year’s Technical Articles include stainless
steel in construction; members subject
to combined bending and compression;
the use of S355 fin plates; U-frames in
bridges, and temperature profiles through
composite slabs at elevated temperatures.
Hallé Orchestra to get new and larger rehearsal space
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