Metsec (voestalpine Metsec)

In a departure from the more common local habit of using timber, Dutch developers have used SFS steel framing systems from UK-based Metsec to provide infill for the varied shapes, sizes and profiles of a major new development in Amsterdam.Rising from the flat landscape of Amsterdam’s Zuidas central business district is Amsterdam Valley, a striking 100-metre high structure which presents an eye-catching jagged façade of stone terraces, bay windows and balconies, covered in dense greenery.More redolent of a three-peaked mountain than a building, Amsterdam Valley is an innovative and sustainable mixed-use development commissioned by EDGE Technologies and designed by architects, MVRDV. Providing panoramic views over the iconic city of Amsterdam, the Valley’s 75,000 square metres of space accommodates 200 apartments, seven storeys of office space, a three-storey underground car park with space for 375 cars and 1,850 bicycles, and a variety of retail, leisure and cultural facilities, including bars,restaurants, gym, swimming pool and museum.The project’s bold design is matched by the courage of the construction consortium (Boele & van Eesteren and G&S Bouw) in selecting Metsec’s lightweight steel framing system, rather than opting for the more usual Dutch solution of timber, to provide infill throughout the building.Appointed to design, supply and install the SFS, British specialists, MTJ Builders were involved at the early stages of the Amsterdam Valley project, working with the project’s design and construction teams to develop a scheme which would accommodate the building’s striking outline as well as deliver the performance and efficiency for which SFS is renowned.Kulwinder Lall of MTJ Builders comments, “The contractors needed an infill system which would support the bracketry for the natural stone cladding panels which had pretty much been cut by the time we were consulted. SFS provided a versatile and flexible solution which would also assure rapid progress when delivered to site.“A full-sized working mock-up of one of the Valley’s cells, using SFS as infill, convinced the development team of the system’s efficacy. Working with Metsec’s design team, we produced designs and 3D models of the installation before manufacture, delivery and installation.”Produced to BIM standards, the SFS design was created to precisely match the architects’ setting-out information, which determined the wall and opening locations. Each floor required between eighty and one hundred SFS panel section drawings, with the entire project requiring in excess of 5,000 drawings.To assist with co-ordination between the 3D models and site a bespoke SFS track Revit family was created with additional offset nodes, facilitating a mainly digital collaborative environment, with some hard copy drawings produced to assist installation.As a BIM project, the location of each specific stud needed to be exact, as other parties would be reliant on the SFS model for subsequent installation of their own products and systems. This required each stud to be dimensioned from a datum to allow the SFS installation teams to position each stud precisely in its designated location.Some 9,500 square metres of Metsec SFS was supplied to Amsterdam Valley, with a mixture of 90mm, 150mm, 240mm and 270mm stud sizes used according to requirements.Compared to timber or blockwork walls, SFS provides a lightweight solution which can be adapted on site to accommodate any variances in the main steel or concrete structural frame, ensuring a seamless fit at each stud location which proved invaluable in coping with the Valley’s many and varied angles.Lall concludes, “With the untimely intervention of coronavirus during the SFS installation phases, Amsterdam Valley posed a few challenges. Fortunately, the digital environment created by Metsec’s design team assured close co-operation between ourselves, Metsec and the contractors. The project went as smoothly as the pandemicwould allow, with SFS proving its worth and justifying the Dutch development team’s courage.“The building’s design was out of the ordinary and, for the Dutch construction industry, so was the SFS solution!”

voestalpine Metsec’s lightweight steel framing system, SFS, is being used in the creation of a new £346m riverside residential development in the Barking and Dagenham area of London, which will eventually provide more than 900 new homes for the capital.Fresh Wharf is being developed by Countryside, the UK’s leading mixed-tenure developer, in partnership with housing association Notting Hill Genesis on a 10-acre, former brownfield site situated along the banks of the River Roding, a tributary of the River Thames.The site was previously used for commercial lettings before being acquired by Countryside. Demolition of old premises on the site started in early 2018 and Phase 1 of the two-phase construction project commenced later that year.Working with architects and urban planners, Metropolitan Workshop, Countryside and Notting Hill Genesis have created a scheme which is designed to maximise the benefits of the river frontage and city views.In addition to a mix of contemporary one to three-bedroom apartments together with three bedroom townhouses, Fresh Wharf will feature a large, open park at its centre and three landscape led public realm areas. Existing boat moorings will be reinstated and a selection of shops, cafesand restaurants will be incorporated in the development’s Northern Square, adding to the vibrancy of the area.Phase 1 of the project sees the construction of 532 homes, accommodated in five apartment blocks of between five and fifteen storeys and ten three-storey townhouses.Following the demolition works, Countryside needed to raise the level of the riverside site for protection against flooding. This was achieved by capping to achieve a finished floor level of 6.30m AOD.After this, construction of the new properties commenced in earnest, with the apartment blocks and townhouses being constructed from concrete frames. It is here that voestalpine Metsec’s lightweight steel framing system, SFS came into play, providing infill for the properties.Almost 16,000m2 of 100mm SFS was supplied as infill for the external brickwork facades of the apartments and townhouses. To assure compliance with NHBC moisture control requirements, SFS sections being used in areas such as the ground floor, balconies and roof terraces were manufactured from Z600 galvanised steel to provide added protection.Installation was undertaken by specialist sub-contractor, Stanmore, with voestalpine Metsec using Revit to create the construction level design for the framing system at the early stages of the project’s conceptualisation.Garry Tarvet, Associate Technical Director, Partnerships East London, Countryside, comments, “Engaging with voestalpine Metsec’s team at the very early stages of the project de-risked the design process for us. It ensured that the project could progress smoothly and avoided disruption of the design and construction processes, allowing us to meet our timetable.“voestalpine Metsec’s BIM and 3D modelling capabilities also allows them to integrate their designs with our own models, further streamlining the process and making the project much easier to manage from start to finish.”Working with Metropolitan Workshop, Countryside has also taken a great deal of care to avoid Fresh Wharf being a standard frame and cladding development. External aesthetics have been assured by attention to detail in the selection and detailing of the brickwork, which includes sawtooth brick, basketweave details and multi-course soldiering to add variety, interest and quality to the final finish.

A brand new sports facility for study and the community.The construction of one of Scotland’s largest school and community projects has made extensive use of voestalpine Metsec’s SFS lightweight steel framing system to deliver time and cost savings.The £55 million project sees the creation of brand new education and sports facilities in the centre of Inverurie which will provide a hub for academic study and community activities in the Aberdeenshire town.The new Inverurie Community Campus includes state-of-the-art teaching accommodation for up to 1,600 pupils as well as extensive sports and leisure facilities for locals, including a six-lane swimming pool, hydrotherapy pool, sports hall, fitness suite, dancing studio and community café.The project has been undertaken by Aberdeenshire Council through developers Hub North Scotland. Halliday Fraser Munro were principal designers for the project, with construction being awarded to the Robertson Group.voestalpine Metsec-approved installers, Veitchi Interiors were successful in tendering for the continuous walling that would form the external envelopes of the academy and community buildings, which extended to three storeys in height and are finished in a combination of brickwork and cladding. Some 20,000 metres of SFS was used as infill between the hot-rolled structural steel frame.SFS proved to be the perfect solution for the campus buildings as Donald Turner, director at Veitchi Interiors, explains, “SFS was the ideal choice for the design and scope of this project. The ability to combine SFS with other construction methods meant that it dovetailed nicely with the hot-rolled steel frame, whilst voestalpine Metsec’s technical department worked closely with the project’s structural engineers, Fairhurst, to prepare the necessary designs. Further close liaison with Veitchi and the construction team meant that planning, scheduling and delivery of the SFS components to site was precise and timely.“Installation of SFS is quick and easy. Once installed and boarded it provides immediate protection from the elements, enabling follow-on trades to start their work at a very early stage and allowing the project to progress quickly and smoothly.”Inverurie Community Campus has drawn praise from politicians, councillors and the community as a whole, winning the Development of the Year (Public buildings) at the 2021 Scottish Property Awards.

voestalpine Metsec SFS has been used in the construction of a major new city centre redevelopment project in Durham.Situated along the banks of the River Wear in the centre of Durham City, Milburngate is a 450,000 square-feet mixed-use redevelopment of a site previously occupied by HM Passport Office and National Savings & Investments.The development features high quality restaurants, bars, a boutique cinema and contemporary offices together with a 92-bedroom Premier Inn hotel, 153 luxury built-to-rent apartments and a 600-space car park.With views over the UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Durham city centre, Milburngate provides the city with a stunning leisure, business and residential destination as well as creating hundreds of new employment opportunities.Milburngate is being delivered in joint venture by Durham-based property business. Arlington Real Estate and the Richardson family, who together have already successfully delivered a number of important regeneration projects across the region.Main contractors, Tolent specified voestalpine Metsec’s lightweight, cold-rolled steel framing system, SFS for the external walls together with composite flooring on the hotel and three apartment buildings. The structures range from four to nine storeys in height and are constructed using a primary hot rolled steel frame.The decision to opt for voestalpine Metsec SFS was taken following discussions between Tolent, the project’s architects and voestalpine Metsec’s technical sales team, with voestalpine Metsec undertaking design at the start of the project and guaranteeing to meet the project’s planned timescale for delivery. SFS Installation was undertaken by local specialists, James Paul Services Limited.voestalpine Metsec’s design included individual spacing of studs to suit the layout for the Stofix Brickslip heavy rainscreen cladding. Special consideration also needed to be given to fire resistance; with the primary steel frame being protected by intumescent paint, a 52mm gap was maintained between SFS studs and the frame’s steel columns, whilst SFS sections that were fixed directly to the frame were finished with a similar intumescent surface treatment.voestalpine Metsec Sales Manager, Andy Brayford comments, “Milburngate is a perfect illustration of the versatility of SFS in its ability to be used with a variety of primary frame materials, in this case hot rolled steel.With our in-house team of experts taking care of system design, the SFS elements were manufactured to the precise requirements of the project, assuring efficiency in installation and enabling the project’s construction schedules to be met.”

Two new residential tower blocks in the heart of Birmingham.voestalpine Metsec’s SFS steel framing system has been used extensively in the construction of two major landmark residential tower blocks in the heart of Birmingham.The Bank development features two striking highrise structures of 22 and 31 storeys, named Left Bank 1 and Left Bank 2, situated within easy reach of the Second City’s major commercial, business and leisure districts.Designed by local architects, Glancy Nicholls for client, the Regal Property Group, the two buildings provide a mixture of luxury apartments, hotel and retail facilities. Extending to more than 100 metres, the taller of the two is Birmingham’s tallest residential building.Wates Construction were appointed to build both tower blocks. The main structures were constructed from in-situ reinforced concrete columns, beams and floors, with voestalpine Metsec SFS being specified by the architects to provide infill to support the external cladding and glazing systems.Performance, speed and economy were all instrumental factors in the decision to opt for voestalpine Metsec SFS.From a performance perspective, the external walls of both buildings needed to be constructed from non-combustible materials. voestalpine Metsec’s ability to offer through-the-wall guarantees of SFS’s fire performance in use with a wide variety of insulation and cladding materials provided the assurance needed for this high-profile project.Critical to the specification of SFS for this project was its ability to withstand the high wind loadings stipulated by the structural engineer’s calculations. Scale models of the buildings and their environment were used to undertake the fluid analysis which would determine potential wind loading on the structures’ façades.As a result, 150mm SFS was specified, providing the additional strength required by the structural engineer’s calculations and greater flexibility during construction of the multi-storey buildings.Speed and, hence, economy were achieved throughout the SFS and cladding installation process, which was undertaken by voestalpine Metsec-approved installers Isec Interior Systems.SFS components were delivered to site on a just in time schedule from voestalpine Metsec’s production facilities at Oldbury, just a few miles from the site. These were then combined with insulation, cladding and glazing elements to fabricate complete panels and lifted into position using mast climbers. This allowed all four sides of each storey to be completed simultaneously, enabling follow-on trades to move in quickly and construction to progress smoothly.Safety was assured throughout the installation process thanks to the fact that the majority of operations could be completed from the inside of the building.voestalpine Metsec and SFS proved to be the ideal solution for both Bank 1 and Bank 2. We provided invaluable support at the design stage and the system installation was quick and trouble free, allowing the project to be completed on schedule and the client to start realising returns on their investment.In addition to giving Birmingham two stunning pieces of iconic modern architecture, The Bank provides almost 400 individual apartments, many with spectacular views across the city and all perfectly situated for local bars, restaurants and workplaces.