Creagh Concrete are championing the use of precast concrete in the UK and are at the forefront of cutting edge offsite manufacture with its Rapidres fastrack build system, that is presently revamping central Birmingham with the Arena Central development.
A collection of high and low-rise shops, offices and residential buildings are emerging around the existing Alpha Tower, a Grade II-listed office built in the 1970s and one of Birmingham’s most well-known architectural landmarks.
Main contractor Galliford Try is now two-thirds of the way through a £40million 323-apartment Private Rented Sector (PRS) scheme for client Dandara Living, one that will significantly boost the number of homes available in close proximity to
Birmingham’s city centre. Comprising two blocks of 17 and 22 storeys linked by bridges at each level, the development will feature studio, onebed and two-bed apartments with balconies across all elevations.
The building is located within the footprint of a subterranean car park that used to serve the Alpha Tower and hotel behind. That car park was a two-level facility built below ground with an open central section. The new building has been launched largely through that central void, with the reinforced concrete car park broken away in areas to accommodate the new development. The building ties into the remaining sections of car park to provide spaces for its residents.
“Some of the car park has been incorporated into the design for the development,” says Aidan Smith Project Manager, Galliford Try. “Our temporary works department had to look closely at the design of the car park to accommodate the different loading on the structure during the demolition process, as well as tying it back into the new building as it came
up from the ground.”
The structural frame from Creagh Concrete for the new dual-block building is largely precast concrete with a cast in-situ reinforced concrete basement and ground floor featuring a 1.8m-thick transfer slab – cantilevered across the south-east corner. A precast concrete frame springs from this slab from levels 1-22 on block A and 1-17 on block B.
The decision to use precast concrete systems for the bulk of the building’s structural frame, cladding and balcony
units was taken at an early stage on the project, with Dandara wanting a robust finish on the building, which
would limit the amount of ongoing maintenance required.
With Creagh’s precasting facilities in Northern Ireland able to provide both the structural units and the acid-etched
finished architectural cladding units for the facade, the Galliford Try team was quick to bring the firm in as main
supplier on the project. “We did lots of due diligence,” adds Adrian Smith. “We felt Creagh could deliver and complete the work on-time and we liked its in-house design capability. The team there spent months perfecting the mixes to make sure it could manage to consistently produce the dark grey of the facade.”
The scheme uses the Rapidres fastrack build system. The bulk of the Arena precast panels measure 8m in length,
with the floorplan based on a similar 8m grid. They arrive onsite from a holding point just outside the city and are lifted directly into position. The inner wall panels are formed from 180mm thick solid concrete and arrive with a perfect surface that just requires a few coats of paint. The insulated structural facade panels are 300mm thick and require no further treatment onsite.
To read the full article in Offsite Magazine, go to the digital version of Issue 13 
