The rapidly developing economy of India is perhaps most obviously reflected in its ever changing and increasingly impressive cityscapes.

Nowhere is this trend more evident than in the city of Hyderabad. Home to over four million people, it is the capital and the most populous city of the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.

Banking is now high on the list of key sectors served by Hyderabad, especially after the construction of what is now India's largest steel-framed structure - a new headquarters for the country's leading private sector bank - ICICI Bank - located in the city's financial district.

Concrete has been the traditional building material of choice for large-scale projects.

But demand is increasing for more affordable, yet taller, buildings with flexible space and ever faster installation speed. India's new wave of designers and structural engineers are therefore embracing more modern, high strength, low weight construction methods, with spectacular results.

In this heady environment, steel-framed construction is coming into its own. Corus was able to demonstrate its suitability by providing 162,000m2 of ComFlor® 80 composite floor decking and 10,000 tonnes of BS4 sections to the new bank headquarters in Hyderabad.

ComFlor® 80 is the next generation of profiled steel composite decks. It is the only 80mm profile available with Colorcoat FD^TM  pre-finished steel. Its large corner curvature detail provides a very efficient profile, which ensures typical unpropped spans of 4.2m simply supported and, in the continuous condition, spans of 5.0m can be achieved.

The large spans achievable with ComFlor® 80 mean less structural steel is used. This provides savings in the overall construction cost, which also offers more scope to architects and engineers in the design process.

With involvement from the earliest design stages for the new ICICI headquarters, Corus assisted the design and engineering teams in achieving a tailored,total package solution.