Commercial
Capital scheme
12 NSC
Nov/Dec 19
Edinburgh’s largest speculative
office development, located
within the City’s Exchange
business district is quickly taking
shape with the aid of steel construction.
The eight-storey steel-framed
building will offer 11,380m2 of office
accommodation, spectacular views across
the city from its upper levels and a doubleheight
reception area.
Highlighting the need for Grade A office
space in the Scottish capital, the top three
levels have already been let to Brodies LLP,
said to be Scotland’s largest law firm, while
another law firm, Pinsent Masons, has let
two floors.
The building sits on top of a threelevel
reinforced concrete basement that
accommodates a 110 space public car park.
From the ground floor slab upwards, the
structure is entirely steel-framed.
According to BAM Construction
Senior Site Manager Derek Cooper, a
steel solution for the superstructure was
chosen primarily for its speed and ease
of construction. The steelwork erection
began in May, and by the end of September
BHC had completed the majority of the
frame, excluding some square hollow
section (SHS) ladder frames that will
support architectural fins either side of
the entrance. These SHS sections will
be retrofitted later in the construction
programme.
Blyth & Blyth Associate Brett Steyn
agrees and adds: “The other key driver
for the Capital Square development is the
limitation in the overall building height
given the location of the site in the centre
of Edinburgh.
“The height limitation meant that any
transfer level or structures would impact
on the overall number of usable floorplates
that could be achieved. The column grid
adopted on site was therefore typically
defined to provide a suitable layout for the
car parking levels below, while providing
clear open office floorplates above. The grid
is irregular in both directions in order to
accommodate the best parking layout and
traffic flow.”
The office floorplates typically have
spans of 10.5m for the secondary beams
with spans of between 7.5m to 9m for the
primary beams.
Meanwhile, the floor-to-ceiling heights
Optimising the number of floors within an overall city centre
height limit led the design team to choose a steel-framed
solution for Edinburgh’s Capital Square commercial scheme.
Some of the offices
will have views of
Edinburgh Castle
“Steelwork
deliveries
were kept to
a minimum
and the loads
erected almost
immediately.”
/Construction#Steel_erection
/Braced_frames
/Multi-storey_office_buildings
/Steel_construction_products#Structural_hollow_sections
/Concept_design#Floor_grids