NEWLANDS ROAD IS A LIVE RESIDENTIAL SCHEME SPLIT OVER MULTIPLE PHASES UTILISING LIGHTWEIGHT STEEL FRAME TECHNOLOGY FROM INTELLIGENT STEEL SOLUTIONS. THE COMPLETED DEVELOPMENT WILL COMPRISE 11 BUILDINGS RANGING FROM THREE TO SEVEN STOREYS IN HEIGHT PROVIDING A TOTAL OF 340 ONE AND TWO-BEDROOM APARTMENTS, CAR PARKING, LANDSCAPING AND ANCILLARY WORKS.
Work commenced in the first quarter of 2020 with MCR Property Group operating the site. Although the pandemic slowed things down, progress on site remained steady throughout the year with staff able to maintain social distancing.
Learnings from the first development in this multi-block scheme provided insights into how the subsequent units could be delivered even more efficiently. Being able to reflect, evaluate and improve how a scheme is delivered is something that large multi-block, multi-phase projects can achieve. This is just one of the many benefits associated with panelised light steel frame offsite construction.
Through early engagement with their in-house design and engineering team,
Intelligent Steel Solutions has the ability to incorporate ways of enhancing delivery and installation for the benefit of its clients. Operating nationwide, their team of 10 in-house design and engineering professionals have a combined experience of around 50 years’ in creating cold formed steel solutions to Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA) principles.
Both MCR Property Group and Intelligent Steel benefited from early engagement on the project with light steel frame incorporated into the design from the offset.
James Mitchell, Senior Project Manager at MCR Property Group said: “Intelligent Steel Solutions have done a superb job here on our site in Luton. It has been eye opening to see how quickly steel frame structures can be assembled. It’s been a pleasure to work together.”
With residential apartment schemes, unlike simple student accommodation units or single room hotel designs with short spans – repetition floor to floor is more difficult to achieve. The developer is trying to not only sell or rent apartments but promote a new way of living that will enhance life and well-being – delivering an experience worth investing in. The design concept therefore has to take this into account when delivering the ‘dream’ to prospective buyers.
By investing in light steel framing technology, MCR Property Group benefited from efficiencies in the overall build programme by aligning as many loadbearing walls as possible, thus reducing the requirement for additional hot rolled steel support.
At Newlands Road, Intelligent Steel have investigated project statistics for Blocks E, F, G, H, I, J, K and can report that less than 90t of hot rolled steel has been used over the 18,011m2 of floors. Just over 10km of light steel frame panels have been installed and nearly 900t of cold rolled steel. This means that the percentage of hot rolled steel against the cold rolled light steel full structural solution was at less than 10%. For a residential apartment scheme, this is an efficient solution that offered a shorter build programme, cost certainty, zero waste to landfill and a steel system that is fully recyclable and
environmentally sustainable.
From a health and safety standpoint, light steel frame is installed with less operatives so improving site safety and allowing in this current climate, easier site management and the implementation of social distancing procedures and Covid safe working practices.
With the site benefiting from consistent progress and the programme accelerated due to the use of lightweight steel frame, the final phases will see overall completion by the end of the second quarter in 2022.
