Case Study 001

30 St Mary Axe, London

This forty storey steel framed composite structure in
the heart of Londons financial district, has a
surprisingly small footprint and access for the delivery
of construction materials was available only from a
narrow street. Each floor is circular and comprises an
outer ring with equally spaced radial beams plus a
central service core constructed with irregularly
spaced beams, all supporting steel decking based
composite floor slabs. The size of the core is constant,
but the outer floors vary in diameter at each level.

40 storeys Decking types: Ribdeck 80 Permanent edge

Limited site access
On-site activities kept to a
minimum
Decking area: 65,000m2
& Ribdeck AL
Floor slab span: 4.8m max
Floor slab depth: 160mm
No temporary propping
formwork: 15,000m
Shear studs: 370,000
19mm 120 and 95mm
Fire resistance: up to 2 hrs
 Subcontractors were tasked to
satisfy a demanding programme
whilst keeping on-site activities to
a minimum and noise pollution at
very low levels. Traditional
methods for the manufacture and
installation of steel decking were
not suitable, but early
consultations with the project
principals allowed the
development of a tailored
approach using prefabrication
methods.

The structural requirements of the

building presented an opportunity
to use Ribdeck 80, chosen for its
innovative combination of longer
span performance and shallow
slab construction. The maximum
span of the floor slab is 4.8m and
a 160mm deep lightweight
concrete floor slab was designed
to achieve a fire resistance of up
to two hours with only light fabric
reinforcement in the top. The
Ribdeck 80 spanned continuously
over intermediate beams in
double lengths with no need for
temporary propping.

Due to the radial layout of support

Trimming detail at frame nodes
beams, it was necessary to cut
the ends of decking panels at an
angle and to align them closely
and accurately to facilitate the
placement of shear studs in the
troughs and to avoid the need for
closures or excessive gap filling
at joints. Decking panels are
normally formed with square cut
ends that are trimmed to shape
on site when necessary. To
minimise on-site working, a
purpose-made tool was
developed to allow a fixed angle

Detailing at lightwell void

of skew cutting in the deck
manufacturing process and
PROJECT INFORMATION Consulting engineers:
special procedures were devised Arup
to ensure a high degree of Project address:
30 St. Mary Axe, Steelwork contractor:
accuracy and to minimise London EC3 Victor Buyck-Hollandia Joint
disruption of production. Venture Ltd.
Project value:
The setting out datum was at the 130 million Decking sub-contractor:
perimeter of the structure, so Richard Lees Steel Decking Ltd
Building owner: Moor Farm Road West
decking was installed working
Swiss Reinsurance Company The Airfield
inwards towards the core with the Ashbourne
lengths of panels progressively Main contractor: Derbyshire
DE6 1HD UK
reducing. Special bundling and Skanska
Tel: +44(0) 1335 300999
packing had to be employed to Fax: +44(0) 1335 300888
Architects:
accommodate the variation in Foster and Partners www.rlsd.com
panel lengths and to stabilise the
bundles during transportation and
loading onto the structure.
Segmental galvanised steel
closure pieces were also pre-cut
to shape off-site for placement
around the perimeter of the
decking.

Compared with the perimeter, the

inner core had fewer repetitious
panel sizes and irregular angles,
so it was not economic to set up
special tooling in this case.
Instead, off-site cutting was
carried out using petrol driven
saws. Decking panels were
scheduled individually for size
and shape, cut accurately, then
delivered to the structure and
installed like jigsaw pieces. This
left little opportunity for
amendment before concrete
placement and was a very
successful exercise in quality
control and organisation.
Detailing of decking was carried
out using a bespoke system
based upon CSC Ltds 3D+
software, processing parametric
modelling imported from Arup via
Victor Buyck-Hollandia.

Looking up through the atrium

 Published by: in partnership with
MCRMA THE STEEL CONSTRUCTION INSTITUTE
18 MERE FARM ROAD SILWOOD PARK
PRENTON ASCOT
WIRRAL BERKSHIRE
CHESHIRE SL5 7QN
CH43 9TT
TEL: +44 (0) 151 652 3846 TEL: +44 (0) 1344 623345
FAX: +44 (0) 151 653 4080 FAX: +44 (0) 1344 622944
www.mcrma.co.uk www.steel-sci.org