JANUARY 2006 VOL14 NO1 NEW STEEL CONSTRUCTION www.new-steel-construction.com Sustainability Charter launched Steel delivers craftsmanship to Post Office Olympics win steel support WHY F0R CURVED BEAMS? FREE DESIGN SERVICE • Curved at no extra cost mid-production* FREE • 25-50% lighter than plain UBs DESIGN SOFTWARE CELLBEAM v5.1 • Spans up to 60m to date automate • Available within days from order The only cellular beam software written and • Economy - regularly chosen by fabricators maintained by the in Design & Build as the most economical Steel Construction Institute curved solution PLEASE RING * Tight radii may involve additional costs. Please ask for details. 01924 264121 Project LIDL Distribution Centre, Runcorn Engineer GHA Cellular Beam ex 533 x 210 x 82kg/m Span 40m Westok Limited, Horbury Junction Industrial Estate, Horbury Junction, Wakefield, West Yorkshire WF4 5ER Tel: 01924 264121 Fax: 01924 280030 Email: [email protected] www.westok.co.uk 2 NSC January 2006 CONTENTS JANUARY 2006 VOL14 NO1 NEW STEEL CONSTRUCTION www.new-steel-construction.com Cover Image NISA TODAY’S HEADQUARTERS Developer: Nisa Today’s Steelwork Contractor: Atlas Ward Structures Architect: Alan Johnson Associates Structural Engineer: WSP Group 5 Editor’s comment Major themes at the Steel Construction Conference EDITOR suggested a solid and sustainable future for the sector. Client Nick Barrett Tel: 01323 422483 [email protected] contentment was also strongly in evidence CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Ty Byrd Tel: 01892 524455 6 News Calls for reopening the Cardington fire test facility are hoped to [email protected] shame the concrete sector into keeping promises to undertake vitally PRODUCTION EDITOR needed tests Andrew Pilcher Tel: 01892 524481 [email protected] 10 Diary ISDN: 01892 557302 NEWS REPORTERS 11 Profile The Young Structural Engineer of the Year earned her spurs Mike Walter, Victoria Gough ADVERTISING SALES MANAGER on one of London’s most dramatic looking steel framed structures Sally Devine Tel: 01474 833871 [email protected] FEATURES 12 Steel will be the construction material of choice for the 2012 Olympic PUBLISHED BY The British Constructional Steelwork Association Ltd Games in London. David Fowler takes a first look at some of the 4 Whitehall Court, Westminster, London SW1A 2ES designs that have been proposed Telephone 020 7839 8566 Fax 020 7976 1634 Website www.steelconstruction.org 16 The 2005 Steel Construction Conference heard encouraging Email [email protected] messages from clients and the sector delivered its own clear The Steel Construction Institute messages on commitment to sustainability Silwood Park, Ascot, Berkshire SL5 7QN Telephone 01344 623 345 Fax 01344 622 944 20 One of the UK’s biggest sheds has been completed successfully to a Website www.steel-sci.org fast track programme. Jon Masters reports. Email [email protected] 22 Craftsmanship in steel was needed for the successful conversion of a Corus Construction and Industrial PO Box 1, Brigg Road, Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire DN16 1BP 1920’s former Post Office building in Nottingham. Margo Cole delivers Telephone 01724 404040 Fax 01724 404224 the story Website www.corusconstruction.com Email [email protected] 24 Recent tests on intumescent coatings have implications for the design CONTRACT PUBLISHER & ADVERTISING SALES of multi storey buildings. Dr Bill Allen of Leigh’s Paints reports. Barrett, Byrd Associates Linden House, Linden Close, 30 Gerald Newman of the Steel Construction Institute reviews a new Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN4 8HH guide which allows further economies in the fire safe design of Tel: 01892 524455 buildings www.barrett-byrd.com 32 The Construction Act needs to be changed to bring part-written, part- EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD oral contracts within its scope, argues BCSA Legal and Contractual Dr D Tordoff (Chairman); Mr N Barrett; Mr D Fowler; Affairs Director Marion Rich Mrs Sally Devine; Mr D G Brown, SCI; Mr J P Cartz, BDP; Mr M Crosby, FaberMaunsell; Mr R Gordon, Mace Ltd; 34 New and Revised Codes and Standards Mr W Gover, Consultant; Mr R Harrison, Glentworth Fabrications Ltd; Mr A Hughes, Tubelines; Mr A Palmer, Buro Happold; 34 Courses and Seminars Mr R Steeper, Corus; Mr O Tyler, Wilkinson Eyre, The role of the Editorial Advisory Board is to advise on the overall style 36 40 Years Ago Looking back through the pages of Building With Steel and content of the magazine. shows an original design for a dock to assist maintenance of VC10’s 37 Publications New Steel Construction welcomes contributions on any suitable topics relating to steel construction. Publication is at the discretion of the Editor. Views expressed in 38 Advisory Desk Note 294 concludes the series on Vierendeel Girders this publication are not necessarily those of the BCSA, SCI, Corus or the Contract Publisher. Although care has been taken to ensure that all information contained 40 BCSA members herein is accurate with relation to either matters of fact or accepted practice at the time of publication, the BCSA, SCI, Corus and the Editor assume no responsibility for 42 SCI members any errors or misinterpretations of such information or any loss or damage arising from or related to its use. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without the permission of the publishers. CHANGES TO THE MAILING LIST If you wish to notify us of a change: Non Members of either the SCI or the BCSA please telephone Corus on 01724 404863 Members BCSA Telephone BCSA on 020 7839 8566 Members SCI Telephone SCI on 01344 623 345 SUBSCRIPTIONS To take out a subscription please telephone 01344 623 345 Annual subscription £92.00 UK, £117.00 elsewhere. The British Constructional All rights reserved ©2006. ISSN 0968-0098 Steelwork Association Ltd NSC January 2006 3 EN0593A4 A4 Stuct Eng 1/9/05 14:42 Page 1 VERSATILE CHANNEL SECTIONS. FOR NOTSOVERSATILE BUDGETS. The first 4mm cold rolled channel has arrived. We’ve invested £4 million in new production lines to manufacture the most versatile steel section around. This adds up to big savings in steelwork fabrication costs. And 4mm sections open up a wide range of design possibilities for engineers. You can use Multichannel4 for windposts, secondary support members and other areas cold rolled channels couldn’t previously go. With increasingly pressurised site programmes you need to reduce your workload. Why bother cutting, punching, fabricating, welding, shot- blasting, painting and transporting when you can order Multichannel4. The significant saving will suit your not so versatile budget. To obtain one of the new handbooks call 01944 712000 or visit www.kingspanmetlcon.com Kingspan Metl-Con Ltd. Sherburn, Malton, North Yorkshire, YO17 8PQ. England. Tel: 01944 712000 Fax: 01944 710555 e-mail: [email protected] 4 NSC January 2006 Editor’s Comment Clients line up in praise of sustainable steel To judge by the comments we see in the press, few sectors of the construction industry would be able to field many clients happy to tell the story of hoiw they are being well served by their contractors. The constructional steelwork sector was able to do just that at the 2005 Steel Construction Conference, with one of the UK’s biggest property companies taking the podium – Richard Elliott of British Land - alongside one of the UK’s biggest private individual property investors – Julian Simmonds, the client behind the Manresa Road apartments project. Both have had groundbreaking projects described in NSC during the year; British Land is a repeat customer of long standing for steelwork contractors and Nick Barrett - Editor Julian Simmonds says he would like to be. The conference was a great success on many fronts as you can read elsewhere in this issue, not least for the launch of the steel sector’s Sustainability Charter. The message was also clear from clients that they themselves have to think sustainability in their projects, and they expect their construction suppliers to be able to match their efforts. So sign up for the Charter or risk being left behind. Steel stays positive Client satisfaction and solid performance in improving sustainability credentials – these are strong and positive messages to be able to deliver in support of marketing and lobbying efforts that benefit the whole steelwork sector. This stands in sharp contrast to the marketing that we have seen recently from the concrete sector, in particular from an organisation calling itself the British Association of Reinforcement (BAR), which has placed several childish advertisements in the construction press. The person called the ‘project director’ of this organisation and who is quoted in BAR’s press releases as an authority on fire safety engineering aspects of structural steel is also the press relations consultant for the Concrete Centre. Obviously an authority on this subject area. With little positive to say in favour of concrete BAR is reduced to an anti steel knocking campaign. One of the advertisements likened steel to jelly. This not only insults the steel sector, but also the intelligence of the engineering design community and its clients who have overwhelmingly voted in the marketplace in favour of steel. With puerile opposition like this it is not surprising that steel has outperformed concrete by such a huge margin over the past 20 years. Steel could, but need not, reply with adverts knocking the performance of concrete, such as the closure on safety grounds of the Castlepoint Shopping Centre in Bournemouth, the alkali silica scandal which we may not have heard the last of, or the scrutiny that very thin post tensioned floor slab designs are coming in for. Steel sector funds will continue to be invested in positive marketing and technical support for designers and users of constructional steelwork. New Steel Construction welcomes hearing from steelwork contractors, structural engineers and architects about the projects you are involved in.