114 Lots Road, Chelsea Waterfront combined GRC and masonry support project
Chelsea Waterfront is a mixed-use redevelopment of the original iconic Lots Road Power Station, originally powering the London underground.
Designed by Sir Terry Farrell, it combines low raise townhouse-style buildings, the original power house, and two new high-rise towers, combined with public access landscape gardens, this redevelopment aims at bringing new life to the area.
114 Lots Road is part of the development. McMullen Facades were contracted by the main contractor, Midgard, to deliver the facade.
Products Used
Challenge
The facade design required a GRC band to be supported as well as masonry support, that sat directly above a GRC diamond. At the time, there was no company offering combined masonry and GRC support brackets. This means, that contractors usually need to deal with two suppliers and two technical teams, one for masonry support and one for GRC support. This naturally brings in the complexity of not only coordinating the two suppliers to ensure timely delivery but also coordinating the actual structural design.
Solution
Having worked with CFS on a previous project, McMullen Facades approached CFS to see if there was some way to simplify the situation and invited CFS to tender.
In theory, the GRC and masonry support brackets can be combined into one, however, it brings additional structural challenges to consider and requires a good understanding of structural engineering.
Given CFS's experience both in the design of GRC support and masonry support, CFS were able to consider the additional design challenges and designed a novel type of combined masonry and GRC support bracket. The design adjustment resulted in savings on masonry support brackets, because of smaller material use despite the brackets being relatively large.
Using a combined bracket also meant that Midgard needed to work only with one supplier – simplifying the whole supply chain.
Midgard Design Services rationalised the design to be modular and repetitive. This was achieved by using a small number of masonry pier variations and window openings allowing for repeated supports to be used throughout each level. All this meant that CFS were able to deliver just several variations of the combined GRC and masonry support bracket.
Results
Combined GRC and masonry support brackets bring a significant reduction in labour hours on site. Additional savings are made by simplification of the supply chain – this also reduces risk associated with supplier management and increases transparency across the project. This approach proved to be successful and is used in other projects as well.
As a result, CFS is now offering combined GRC and masonry support brackets.