{"id":32192,"date":"2021-01-05T02:00:07","date_gmt":"2021-01-05T02:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsteelconstruction.com\/wp\/?p=32192"},"modified":"2021-01-05T10:39:45","modified_gmt":"2021-01-05T10:39:45","slug":"rising-high","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsteelconstruction.com\/wp\/rising-high\/","title":{"rendered":"Rising high"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Ulster\u2019s tallest-ever commercial development rapidly takes shape.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

FACT FILE
City Quays 3, Belfast<\/strong>
Main client: Belfast Harbour
Architect: RPP Architects
Main contractor: Farrans
Structural engineer: Doran Consulting
Steelwork contractor: Walter Watson
Steel tonnage: 1,500t<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lightweight nature of a steel-framed solution, as well as its speed of construction, were of upmost importance for the design of a record-breaking office block in Belfast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The commercial sector in Belfast is set to receive a significant boost when Northern Ireland\u2019s tallest-ever office block completes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Known as City Quays 3, it is the fifth building in a much-wider city centre development and the third office block<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Topping out at 16-storeys, the steel-framed<\/a> structure will offer more than 23,000m\u00b2 of office space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Structural steelwork has played a leading role in the overall development, as the completed City Quays 1 and 2, which are five-storeys and nine-storeys high respectively, are also steel-framed, as is the adjacent multi-storey car park<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Belfast Harbour\u2019s Chief Executive, Joe O\u2019Neill, describes the project as one of the largest strategic investments ever undertaken by Belfast Harbour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Overlooking the city waterfront, the wider City Quays development has used steel to form two previous office blocks and a car park.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn addition to supporting 500 local construction<\/a> jobs, the office will build upon City Quays\u2019 success by providing strategic accommodation to meet demand for Grade A, city-centre office space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn just five years, City Quays has emerged as an iconic waterfront destination for sectors including legal, media, IT and financial services. Our experience of developing in advance of market demand, and the subsequent success in securing occupiers, has led us to progress City Quays 3. This investment will assist both indigenous and new market entrants and we have already had very positive early discussions with a number of potential occupiers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upon completion, the building, which overlooks the River Lagan, will be able to accommodate around 1,800 office workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because of its riverfront location, extensive groundworks had to be undertaken by the main contractor, as Farrans Project Manager Noel Cosgrove explains: \u201cA hundred years ago or so the site was actually part of a much wider river and so the land is made-ground which was more recently used to accommodate warehouses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe had to do a soil improvement programme and then install more than 480 piles to support our concrete raft foundations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Overlooking the River Lagan; how the completed scheme will look. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Situated approximately 1.2m below ground level, the raft is 1.7m-thick and supports the building\u2019s core and steel frame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interestingly, the 750mm-diameter CFA piles, which are up 34m deep, are said to be the longest CFA\u2019s ever installed in Ireland and if the scheme had of gone with its original design<\/a> plan, they would have been even deeper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cInitially the building frame was to be constructed using reinforced concrete, however this was changed to steelwork in order to assist both the speed of construction<\/a> and also to reduce the self-weight<\/a> of the building, leading to a more economical foundation solution,\u201d says Doran Consulting Engineer Raymond Kinnaird.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Steel beams radiate outwards from a centrally-positioned concrete core<\/a> to the perimeter columns, creating spans of up to 11.3m. There are no internal columns, so the building offers column-free space<\/a> throughout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As well as providing stability<\/a> to the steel frame, the core accommodates six lifts, two stairwells and the building\u2019s washrooms and toilets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The structure\u2019s internal beams are typically 600mm-deep Westok cellular sections<\/a>, chosen because they offered the most efficient solution for accommodating the many building services<\/a> within their depth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The design also includes a composite floor<\/a> solution, with the Westoks supporting metal decking and a concrete topping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Westok\u2019s are spaced at 3m centres, supported by the perimeter beams and the perimeter columns, which are on a 6m grid pattern<\/a>.
Kloecker Metals UK Westok Design Team Manager, John Callanan says: \u201cIt\u2019s fantastic to continue our work at City Quays with the design and provision of Westok cellular beams at City Quays 3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe scheme is a classic clear-span steel-framed office development, with the provision of a full string of cells in the pre-cambered Westoks, providing the ultimate freedom for M&E service routes today and into the future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The perimeter columns are 356UC sections<\/a> from the ground floor up to level three, partly due to the fact that the lowest floor of the building is a double-height space as it contains the lobby and there are greater loads for the steelwork to carry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Weighing 10t and measuring 16m-long, these steel columns were the largest single elements of the steelwork package.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Higher up the structure these columns decrease in size to 305UCs and then 254UCs for the uppermost six floors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Steelwork contractor Walter Watson erected the first eight storeys using an 80t-capacity mobile crane<\/a>. Because of site logistics and in order to work around the project\u2019s other trades, from level eight to the top, the steelwork erection<\/a> was able to switch over to the use of the project\u2019s tower crane<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBringing steel to site<\/a> is always a challenge when working in a city centre,\u201d sums up Mr Cosgrove. \u201cWe are working between two existing and occupied buildings, so we have to be fully aware of our neighbours. One of the ways we do this is to keep deliveries to a minimum and steelwork is brought to site on a just-in-time basis and erected immediately, as there is no room for material storage.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FACT FILECity Quays 3, BelfastMain client: Belfast HarbourArchitect: RPP ArchitectsMain contractor: FarransStructural engineer: Doran ConsultingSteelwork contractor: Walter WatsonSteel tonnage: 1,500t The lightweight nature of a steel-framed solution, as well as its speed of construction, were of upmost importance for the design of a record-breaking office block in Belfast. The commercial sector in Belfast is set […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32193,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6],"tags":[431,268,2439,309,192,3316,3748,2532,2371,2307,2209,3545,3984,1180,3200,2230,3554,2674,2453,48,1136],"class_list":["post-32192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature","category-featured","tag-belfast","tag-cellular-beams","tag-column-free-space","tag-commercial","tag-composite-floors","tag-concrete-core","tag-doran-consulting","tag-farrans-construction","tag-groundworks","tag-just-in-time-deliveries","tag-lightweight-construction","tag-mobile-crane","tag-multi-storey-car-parks","tag-offices","tag-raft-foundation","tag-services","tag-speed-of-construction","tag-tower","tag-tower-crane","tag-walter-watson","tag-westok-cellular-beams"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newsteelconstruction.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Belfast1-2101.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3WsLP-8ne","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsteelconstruction.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsteelconstruction.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsteelconstruction.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsteelconstruction.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsteelconstruction.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32192"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsteelconstruction.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32192\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32221,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsteelconstruction.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32192\/revisions\/32221"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsteelconstruction.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsteelconstruction.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsteelconstruction.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsteelconstruction.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}