PRESIDENT’S COLUMN Birmingham hospital gets goahead
8 NSC
September 18
Work starts on final phase of
Salford Embankment
Construction work has started on 100 Embankment,
the second and final phase of the Embankment
scheme in Salford’s Greengate neighbourhood.
As well as marking the start of work on-site the
joint venture team also launched a new campaign
called 100 Reasons, which will celebrate the wide
variety of people helping to build the scheme and
enhance the community in the Greengate area.
The 15,400m2, BREEAM ‘Excellent’ office building
is being delivered by Ask Real Estate and the
Richardson Family in a joint venture with a Tristan
Capital Partners’ fund and Salford City Council.
Representatives from the JV partnership and BAM
Construction marked the occasion by completing the
concrete sealing of the 23rd steel stub which connects
to the frame of the basement car park below.
This will form the base of the new nine-storey
Grade A office building. Elland Steel Structures is
fabricating, supplying and erecting the steelwork for
the project.
Commenting on behalf of the JV partnership,
John Hughes, Managing Director of Ask Real Estate
said: “The second phase of the scheme is now well
under way and we are looking forward to seeing 100
Embankment emerge alongside its sister building 101
Embankment.” see NSC June 2016.
News
While BCSA steelwork contractors are required to have a
fabrication facility in the UK or Ireland that meets stringent
quality standards and undergo a competence assessment
relating to the company’s work facilities, track record and
technical and management experience, there are still
some companies out there without the skills, experience
and financial standing to be taking on structural steelwork
projects.
Who are these companies? On paper, they might look
like legitimate steelwork fabricators. Some have ISO 9001,
CE Marking certification and have undergone well-known
prequalification assessments. But incredibly, they don’t
have a fabrication facility at all. These ‘desk and stool’
companies take on steelwork projects as if they’re an
actual steelwork contractor that undertakes fabrication,
and then they re-subcontract the whole lot out. Every last
piece.
BCSA has even heard of examples where ‘desk and
stool’ companies have passed off their subcontractors’
workshops as their own.
What’s wrong with this?
• First, their certifications are not for steelwork fabrication.
They are for their office and paperwork processes
because that’s all that’s available to be assessed on.
• Their knowledge and understanding of structural
steelwork will be far more limited than someone who
manages a steelwork fabrication facility day-in day-out.
• They won’t have the wide range of experienced,
permanent staff that a qualified steelwork contractor
employs directly.
• They won’t be keeping up with key technical issues or
changes in regulations and standards, which means
they may not be compliant.
• They may not be undertaking rigorous design checks
on every project to ensure that the structural steelwork
is safe at all times.
• They won’t be in direct control of health and safety in
the factory, as the factory is not theirs.
• And lastly, they will not have the financial standing
to provide cash flow or manage project delays which
could put the contract and overall project at risk.
For these reasons, BCSA has always excluded this kind
of company from membership because it’s impossible to
review the fabrication processes, personnel and quality.
BCSA does understand that subcontracting some
steelwork out can be good business practice for
legitimate steelwork contractors. But these steelwork
contractors manage their subcontractors tightly, holding
them to their own high standards and mainly using fellow
BCSA members to undertake the subcontract work.
So what should clients and main contractors do to
reduce this risk:
• Always use a BCSA member company. Go to https://
www.steelconstruction.org/directories/
• Ask specifically whether they have their own fabrication
facility and check its ownership.
• Ask whether they have a welding certificate for CE
Marking – they can only hold one if they have their
own factory.
Another reason to always use a BCSA member.
Tim Outteridge
BCSA President & Sales Director Cleveland Bridge
for second steel phase
Simons Group has been awarded the contract for
building the second phase of the new Circle Health
private hospital in Birmingham’s medical quarter in
Edgbaston.
The Lincoln-based contractor is currently on
site at the former BBC Pebble Mill studio location,
working on Phase 1 of the build. This new award
brings the total contract to £33.5M and, when
complete, will be the second largest private hospital
in the UK.
The hospital is based on an expandable steelframed
model which can be adapted and enlarged to
meet clinical demand now and in the future.
Phase 1, see NSC April 2018 which includes three
operating theatres (expandable to six), an endoscopy
procedure room, and 18 in-patient bedrooms, is due
to complete in March 2019. Work is already under way
on Phase 2, a dedicated rehabilitation centre, which is
expected to be complete in July next year.
Caunton Engineering will supply, fabricate and
erect approximately 900t of structural steelwork for
both phases.
Steel bending secures garden show award
Barnshaw Section Benders’ steel bending expertise has
helped a garden exhibit win a gold medal at this year’s
Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Flower Show held at
Tatton Park in Cheshire.
Manchester-based brewer JW Lees 190th Anniversary
garden, which featured a number of fabrications from
Barnshaws, won the ‘Best Show Garden’ award.
The theme of garden was ‘From Hop to Glass’ and
combined grasses and powder-coated metal sheets in a
circular arrangement to represent the company’s 190th
anniversary and the brewing industry in general.
The planting aimed to embody the head of a pint
of beer, with a curved timber bench mirroring the
comfortable layout of a bar.
A ‘lazy river’ encompassed the garden, providing
a water feature. This section owed its existence to the
fabrication expertise of Barnshaws, who fabricated the
river channel.
Barnshaws had to deliver 14 x 80mm x 6mm steel
channels, curved to suit the circular perimeter of the
garden. The design also included seven 200mm x
6mm washer segments, which were sourced from a
Barnshaw’s profiling company.
Barnshaws’ Manchester Regional Director Wayne
Salkeld said: “Metal bending offers huge opportunities
to designers, and we were very excited to work on this
particular element of the garden.
“We’ve completed fabrication jobs for RHS show
gardens before, but to see this recognition from
gardening experts shows how far structural metal
experience can promote artistic flair.”
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