Notable Features |
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Steel frame structure |
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Concrete slab on profiled metal decking |
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Metal and glass prefabricated panels for external
cladding |
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Raised floor system |
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Flexibility |
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Basic Information |
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Location
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30 St Mary Axe, the City, London, UK |
Building Type : |
Office building
grade A |
Contract Period : |
2001-2004 |
Contract Sum
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£130 million GBP, US$190 million |
Gross Floor Area
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46,000 m2, 500,000 sqft. |
Developer
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Swiss Reinsurance Company |
Client's
Representative
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RWG Associates |
Architect
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Foster and Partners |
Structural Engineer
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Ove Arup & Partners |
E&M Consultant
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Hilson Moran Partnership Ltd. |
Cost Consultant
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Gardiner & Theobald |
Acoustics/Audio
Visual
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Sandy Brown Associates |
Main Contractor
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Skanska Construction |
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Overview |
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The Swiss Re
40-storey building is located on the site of the former Baltic Exchange in the
City of London. The 180m high building includes offices, retails at G/F and 1/F,
a single basement, and a public plaza, the top of the building will be use for
dining and events facilities by the building’s occupants and their guests. Next
to the tower, a 6-storey Bury Street building accommodates houses office and
plants rooms. |
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Slab Steel Decking |
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The concrete
slabs on profiled metal decking loading criteria are: for offices 3.5kPa + 1kPa
demountable partitioning allowance. The metal decking minimizes construction
waste, as it is a prefabricated permanent formwork. |
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Other Information |
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Typical slab to slab heights: 4.15m |
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Typical floor to ceiling height: 2.75m |
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Typical raised floor level: 150mm |
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Design planning module on office floors: 1.50m |
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16 high-speed, high-capacity passenger lifts |
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Sources |
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Powell K.,
New London Architecture, Merrel Publishers Ltd, London, 2001. |
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Quantrill M.,
The Norman Foster Studio: Consistency through Diversity, E&FN Spon, London,
1999. |
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Foster N., On
Foster…Foster On, Prestel, Munich, 2000. |
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Skanska
Construction web site:
www.skanska.com |
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Foster &
Partners web site:
www.fosterandpartners.com |
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30 St Mary
Axe web site:
www.30stmaryaxe.co.uk |
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Building
Shape and Structure |
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The building
structure is designed to be environmentally friendly allowing daylight
penetration at ground floor, minimizing wind loads on the structure and
cladding, etc. |
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The tower has
a circular plan that widens as it rises from the ground floor and tapers towards
its apex. The building shape assists natural ventilation by drawing fresh air in
through light wells spiraling up the building, reducing the need for
conventional air conditioning. The light wells also maximize natural light to
limit reliance on artificial lighting. Because of the inherent stiffness of the
external diagrid, the central core is required to act only as a load-bearing
element and is free from diagonal bracing, producing more flexible floor plates. |
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Steel Frame
Structure |
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Founded on
324no 750mm-diameter (23m into the ground) reinforced concrete piles the
structure comprises approximately 10,000te of structural steelwork that forms
the core and outer diagonal grid (diagrid). The central lightweight core is
constructed first, followed by the steel erection as well as the climbing of the
tower cranes. The steel structure is fabricated in Holland and Belgium. Some
8,000 pieces of steel will be bolted together to form the tower, along with 160
flights of steel staircases. There are up to five deliveries of steel per day.
Each element of steel is clad with fire resistant boarding to protect it against
fire and the internal core walls are constructed using lightweight framing and
plasterboard. For the top of the building, the manufacture of the structural
steelwork is done in Austria. The use of steel structure minimizes construction
and demolition waste as it is prefabricated and recyclable. |
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Cladding |
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The whole
envelope is glass clad and the diagrid is internally enclosed in pressed
aluminum panels. 144 diamond shaped panels are installed on each floor. Diamond
shaped elements of glass are lifted into position by robotic machines and hooked
onto bespoke brackets using floor-operated cranes. Gaskets between the elements
ensure that the building remain watertight. Double-glazed panels of glass are
positioned in front of the “Atrias”. |
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Contact of
Contractor |
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Skanska
Construction UK Ltd.
Maple Cross House
Denham Way,
Maple Cross,
Rickmansworth
Hertfordshire WD3 2SW
Web site:
www.skanska.com |
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Photos |
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Photos of the
construction are available on the Internet:
www.skanska4188.co.uk |
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