Precast Concrete Structures - London City Island
Project Details
Supplier - Precast Concrete Structures
Project - 1700 apartments - London City Island development in East London
Technology - Concrete
Sector - Residential
Project Overview
London City Island development is a joint project by the specialist Dutch precast manufacturer; Hurks precast and their UK business partners Precast Concrete Structures who are constructing the project on behalf of their clients the Ballymore Group and Eco World development Group. The London City Island project is a residential development which will ultimately comprise the construction of 10 apartment buildings containing over 1700 apartments and up to 27 storeys in height on a peninsular of land where the River Lea meets the Thames.
Each of these individually designed structures are clad in striking alternative coloured brickwork which reflect the unique location of the site within the historic docklands area of East London. When completed the site will provide London with a stunning new skyline feature, complementing the adjacent 02 arena and the nearby Canary Wharf. Phase 1 of the project comprise 4 buildings to the south of the site and are of black, red, white and glazed blue brick finish. They range in height from 11 to 19 storeys. Construction started on site in October 14 and were completed ahead of programme in October 15. For three months in the spring this year all four blocks were under simultaneous erection with crawler cranes of up to 300Tonnes in capacity installing wall and floor components, resulting in up to 50 vehicle deliveries to the site per day.
The superstructure to the apartments are formed of an entirely pre-cast concrete frame; internal 200mm thick pre-cast walls support 200mm thick pre-stressed concrete planks, however it is the external brick sandwich panels which form the most striking feature. The panels, manufactured by Hurks in their Dutch factory are a bold new form of pre-cast construction not seen before in the residential market in the UK. They comprise an internal element of 220mm thick grey loadbearing concrete with insulation and a full width cavity, finished externally with 100mm wide brickwork (produced with a full brick). It is the presence of the cavity within the panel which gives this product its unique selling point as it removes long standing issues in high rise pre-cast construction associated with rain water penetration. Furthermore the cavity varies in width from 25mm to 300mm in order to accommodate the deep reveals required by the Architects; Glen Howells Associates around the external windows and balcony doors. The quality of the brickwork coursing and jointing undertaken in the Hurks Factory is of an exemplary standard and which would be difficult to match using traditional insitu brickwork placement.
