Mixed-use
NSC 15
June 19
FACT FILE
Circle Square
Multi-Storey Car Park
Main client:
Bruntwood
Concept architect:
Feilden Clegg Bradley
Studios
Main contractor:
Russells Construction
Steelwork contractor:
James Killelea & Co
Steel tonnage: 2,000t
A key element of the overall Circle Square
master plan and part of the phase one works
is the 1,031-space multi-storey car park,
which James Killelea is erecting on behalf of
main contractor Russells Construction.
As well as fabricating the project’s steelwork, James
Killelea has also been employed on a design and build
basis for this unusual car park.
The structure has 10 parking levels, more than the
average facility, but what marks it out as unusual is the
fact that it will support a six-storey 158-bed hotel on
top of its upper level.
Supporting a hotel would be challenging enough,
however the design has also had to incorporate large
bridging elements as there are two subterranean
600mm-diameter water pipes crossing the site.
“It’s a very unusual design and one that was
originally designed as a concrete-framed structure,”
says James Killelea Senior Structural Engineer Charlie
Twist.
“However, the bridging parts would have proven
to be too difficult to build and consequently a steelframed
solution was chosen for the car park, which in
turn supports a precast concrete hotel.”
A series of four × two-storey-deep lattice girders
and a single one-storey girder, all measuring up to
27m-long, span over the zone where the underground
pipes are located. In these parts, the car park has no
first floor level as the local water board needed a
5m ground-to-ceiling clearance in case they had to
undertake any maintenance works.
Consequently, the first floor is only a partial level and
is set within the depth of the larger lattice girders, as is
the second floor, while the third level is supported on
top of these members.
Elsewhere in the car park, which has an overall
footprint of 64m × 60m, the majority of the structure
features a regular column grid pattern of 3m × 15m.
Taking into account the loadings the hotel will
impose on the car park’s steelwork; some large
members have been used in the design. Most of the
beams are 1.7m-deep plate girders, while some of the
columns, especially those supporting the lattice girders
are 356 × 406 × 634 sections with 200mm-thick base
plates.
The design also incorporates four concrete cores,
one in each corner, that provide the structural stability
along with strategically-positioned cross bracings.
Precast planks form the floors and these are being
installed by James Killelea as the steel erection
progresses.
The car park has been designed as a Vertical
Circulation Module (VCM), which is said to offer a more
efficient solution for confined city plots. This design
contains no external ramps as all of the circulation
is via slopes within the floors, which creates more
parking spaces.
Concept architect for the car park and hotel, Feilden
Clegg Bradley Studios, have produced a design
that reflects the city’s industrial past. Inspired by
the nearby 19th century warehouses, the building's
façade is being constructed from a pre-cast concrete
panel system, utilising inset bricks which draw on
Manchester’s rich links to the grand infrastructure of
the Victorian era.
A series of round openings in the façade allow the
steel frame to be visible from outside, making it part of
the overall architectural industrial vision.
Bruntwood Chief Development Officer Chris Roberts
says: “When complete, Circle Square will be home to a
wide selection of innovative workspaces, shops, homes
and bars and it will attract visitors from far and wide.
The car park and hotel will play a key role in supporting
the high level of interest that we anticipate.”
Car parking
Steelwork wraps
around a centrallypositioned
core in
Building No. 4
Aside from the cores, they have
similar designs, with each commercial
floorplate – from level one upwards
– having the same grid pattern. The
ground floors are slightly different, as
they will accommodate entrance foyers
and retail outlets within a mostly doubleheight
space.
The most visual difference between
the structures, apart from their heights,
is the fact that No.2 has a 3m cantilever
from the second floor upwards along its
main Oxford Road and Brancaster Road
elevations.
No.4’s design features raking columns
that splay outwards from level two to the
underside of level five along the Oxford
Road elevation. This increases the
footprint on the upper levels, although
the raking columns will not be visible
from the outside in the completed
scheme as they will be behind the
cladding line.
According to Billington, this raking
architectural feature means the second
and fifth floors are heavily braced in plan
in order to transfer the extra loadings to
the concrete core.
Both commercial buildings, along
with the two residential blocks being
constructed by John Sisk & Son, will be
complete by early 2021.
The steelwork's
stability is derived from
four cores
The cladding has holes
allowing the steel
frame to be visible
Watch a
time lapse video of
the Circle Square
development at https://
www.youtube.com/
watch?v=
bZY8oEcF_GQ
/Car_parks
/Fabrication
/Single_storey_industrial_buildings#Design_.26_Build
/Residential_and_mixed-use_buildings#Hotels
/Design
/Trusses
/Steel_construction_products#Plate_girders
/Steel_section_sizes
/Concept_design#Structural_options_for_stability
/Braced_frames#Vertical_bracing
/Floor_systems#Precast_units
/Construction#Steel_erection
/Facades_and_interfaces
/Braced_frames
/Concept_design#Floor_grids
/Facades_and_interfaces
/watch?v=
bZY8oEcF_GQ
/watch?v=
bZY8oEcF_GQ
/watch?v=
bZY8oEcF_GQ
/watch?v=
bZY8oEcF_GQ