A large plot that was once the home
of BBC North West and the
facility which hosted the filming
of many TV favourites, such as A
Question of Sport and Mastermind, is now
being transformed into a new neighbourhood
known as Circle Square.
The £750M mixed-use development
will offer office space, retail outlets,
serviced apartments and private residential
accommodation as well as communal spaces
that will be open to the public.
Being built over three phases, to be
completed by 2023, the first phase is now
well underway. This initial phase, being
constructed by John Sisk & Son, includes
two residential blocks and two adjacent
commercial buildings that are designated
buildings two and four, which will top out at
17-storeys and 13-storeys respectively.
Both commercial buildings are steelframed
structures, compositely designed
with steel beams supporting metal deck
flooring and a concrete topping. The beams
are all bespoke plate girders containing holes
to accommodate the services within their
depth.
The structures are expected to achieve
a BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating and will
offer 21,300m2 of floor space in No.2 and
14,000m2 in No.4.
“Using steelwork for these two buildings
was all about getting clear open internal
spans, which is always important for modern
commercial schemes,” explains Curtins
Structural Project Coordinator Paul Milne.
Emphasising the need to create the
maximum amount of floor space, building
No.2 has a smaller footprint than its
neighbour and consequently features an
offset core, located along its northern
elevation.
“This allows all of the office floorplates
to have clear uninterrupted spans up to
12m-long,” adds Mr Milne.
Meanwhile, No.4 has a much larger
footprint and so its design has a more
traditional centrally-positioned stabilitygiving
core. With beams radiating out from
the core, the building features internal spans
of up to 14m on all four sides.
The buildings are founded on 705 bored
piles and share a large basement. All internal
columns go down to the basement slab,
while the perimeter members are supported
on the concrete retaining walls of the
subterranean level and begin at ground floor.
Mixed-use
Full circle
Structural steelwork has been
chosen as the framing solution for
two commercial blocks on a multimillion
pound mixed-use scheme in
central Manchester.
FACT FILE
Circle Square Buildings
No. 2 & 4, Manchester
Main client:
Bruntwood and Select
Property Group
Architect:
Feilden Clegg Bradley
Studios
Main contractor:
John Sisk & Son
Structural engineer:
Curtins
Steelwork contractor:
Billington Structures
Steel tonnage: 3,760t
14 NSC
June 19
Steelwork erection
progresses behind
the core installation
programme
Both buildings have
compositely-formed
floors
The commercial blocks
overlook a new public
square
/Residential_and_mixed-use_buildings
/Composite_construction
/Steel_construction_products#Decking_for_floors
/Steel_construction_products#Decking_for_floors
/Steel_construction_products#Plate_girders
/Service_integration
/Sustainability#Understanding_BREEAM
/Multi-storey_office_buildings
/Concept_design#Concrete_or_steel_cores