Corefast in the city

02 Oct 2006

As you would expect in a new scheme from one of the construction sector’s most progressive companies, One Basinghall Avenue uses the very latest construction techniques and embraces current industry best practice. 

One Basinghall Avenue, a 12-storey steel framed structure (including 2 basement floors), is now well underway and Stanhope is reaping the benefits of specifying Corefast, an innovative system for constructing building cores developed by Corus Bi-Steel. This is the first time Corefast has been used on a commercial development in the City and the design team has been impressed with its speed, accuracy, cost effectiveness and contribution to enhanced site safety.

Corefast selected for central stability core

A number of more traditional core construction techniques were evaluated, including ‘slip form’ and ‘jump form’, concrete ‘Twin Wall’ construction and braced steel, but Corefast was selected.  One of the main challenges facing the design team was how to best construct the core, as it had to be located within centimetres of an adjacent property. This made access from the rear impossible. Constructing the core using Corefast eliminated the need to access the back, as the modules could be craned in and connected from the front.  Another significant benefit of using the technique was that 1 of the 2 structural cores specified in the original design was no longer required due to the high strength and stability offered by Corefast.  

The Corefast core’s rapid installation has enabled the design team to shave weeks off the original programme compared to using a traditional reinforced concrete core – which could have typically taken 16 weeks to construct.  A further benefit of Bi-Steel was that it did not require supplementary fire protection as fire engineering analysis was undertaken to achieve fire resistance of 60 minutes.  This was accepted by Building Control following joint modelling and presentations by the project’s fire consultant Safe and Corus.

Teamwork ensured installation success

The whole design team including structural engineer Whitbybird and construction manager Bovis Lend Lease worked closely with Building Control and steelwork contractor Severfield-Rowen Group to design the core and coordinate all interfaces to ensure the off-site manufacture and on-site installation were successful.

This was the first time the project partners had worked with Corefast and they reported how pleased they were with the installation process.Geoff Laskey, Contracts Managerof Severfield-Rowen comments:

“The installation went smoothly. The Corefast modules were fabricated at Watson Steel (a Severfield-Rowen Group Company) and proved to be highly accurate.  Assembly on site was undertaken by Steelcraft Erection Services (also a Severfield-Rowen Group Company), who were impressed by the ease of installation.  It was fast – 12 storeys of Bi-Steel panels were erected over a total of 15 working days, with the core installation phased to accommodate other onsite activities. That’s about 5 times faster than a traditional reinforced concrete core.”

On completion One Basinghall Avenue will provide Standard Chartered Bank with around 18,765 square metres of prime office accommodation for the Company’s new London headquarters.