Commercial
Prime offices spur
regional activity
“…a steel core has programme
benefits, whereby the project
team didn’t have to wait for a
concrete contractor to finish its
work before beginning the steel
erection as it was all part of the
same programme.”
22 NSC
Mar 20
Greater Manchester’s skyline has
been awash with tower cranes
for a number of years as the city
continues to experience record
levels of construction activity.
A total of 27 schemes, predominantly
in the commercial and residential sectors,
were completed in 2019 and a further 47
completions are expected this year.
Although these figures are impressive,
they are slightly down on the record levels
of activity experienced in 2018, according to
the latest research from Deloitte.
The company’s 2020 Crane Survey
reported that Manchester’s commercial
office sector remained most resilient across
all UK cities with approximately 190,000m2
under construction for a second successive
year.
Investment in the central Manchester
office market remains high as the city is seen
as an ideal location for new and expanding
companies, that require a north of England
headquarters.
One of Manchester’s city centre
commercial schemes due to complete by
the end of 2020 is Eleven York Street, an
eight-storey building that will offer 7,300m2
of floor space. Designed to achieve a
BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating, the structure
will have seven office floors, a ground floor
accommodating two retail units and a main
lobby, as well as a basement offering space
for 23 cars.
Main contractor Kier started on site
during 2018, with the demolition of the
previous five-storey concrete-framed
building.
Replacing, what had become a very
tired-looking structure, the designs for
the new build always envisaged a steelframed
building, according to Tier Consult
Engineer Robert Harmston.
“The client wanted long span, columnfree
office space, and this is best achieved
using structural steelwork. The material
also gives the project team valuable speed of
construction, which is always an important
consideration on any scheme.”
Once demolition had been completed, the
new building’s foundations were installed,
which included a contiguous piled wall and
a series of CFA piles, installed to a depth of
up to 14m.
This then allowed the steelwork
programme to kick-off, which required
Leach Structural Steelwork to fabricate,
supply and erect 890t of steel over a period
of 21 weeks.
“Logistics have been one of the main
challenges for the project, especially for the
delivery of steelwork and other materials,”
says Kier Project Manager Lee Williams.
“We are surrounded by a number of
narrow and busy streets, which need to be
negotiated by our trucks, so any bad parking
Manchester’s commercial sector has seen record levels of activity
in recent years and Eleven York Street is one of the projects set to
complete this year. Martin Cooper reports.
How the latest
commercial scheme in
Manchester will look
/Construction#Tower_cranes
/Construction
/Residential_and_mixed-use_buildings
/Multi-storey_office_buildings
/BREEAM
/Braced_frames
/Braced_frames
/Multi-storey_office_buildings#Long_span_systems
/Multi-storey_office_buildings#Speed_of_construction
/Multi-storey_office_buildings#Speed_of_construction
/Fabrication
/Fabrication#Handling_and_transportation