In late 2021, LSJ Engineering won the steelwork contract at 30 Golden Square, in London’s busy Soho area. This was a job for a new client, Structure Tone, with a contract of over £350,000. The job was logistically quite a challenge as the steelwork requirements were fairly substantial… and because Golden Square is quite busy to say the least!
- Client: Structure Tone
- Job Duration: November 2021 – present
- Project Manager: Jeff Beverley
Beginning the Project
A six-storey office building undergoing a refit, this property was completely stripped back to its bare structure of part-concrete, part-steel work. We added extensions to the rear of the building, from the basement to level six. Additionally, we added front elevation from levels five to six, in order to provide more floor space. Quite a tall order (pun intended!) but we enjoy jobs that require our expertise.
Needless to say, this job was a logistical challenge due to its many components. Our steel frames were delivered by HIAB lorry and wheeled into the building on trolleys, then lifted to each floor level via an internal hoist, which was provided by Structure Tone. Once the frames were at floor level, we erected them with chain hoists from scaffold lifting beams, which were set at agreed points. With the frames erected, our team added a whole new level seven and level eight to the existing roof. We also added a plant deck.
Cellbeams formed the main roof beams, supplied by Westok. Cellbeams are a specialist, relatively lightweight, beam with pre-cut service access holes known as cells. Cranked columns supported these cells at each end to from the new roof’s shape.
Here is some of the work in action! (Please note you can click on the images to make them larger.)
The Roof Extension
Now for the next part of the job: the roof extension. The new roof was lifted and erected using a 90-tonne mobile tower crane, which was sited in Golden Square at weekends.
Once we booked road closures and crane dates, our steel frames needed to be ready for lifting into place. If we didn’t prepare sufficiantly, the job could be delayed by weeks! Our professional, experienced team hit every date required and the job proceeded smoothly. Anything not erected by crane was lifted manually during the week using Genie lifts. This weekday work kept the job flowing, which is really important in a construction job.
Strengthening Works
The extra weight of the new floor, roof frame and RC roof slab meant the existing steel structure needed considerable strengthening for safety. We added some new steel to the floor below to support columns. This included a two tonne Cellbeam, hoisted and erected by hand using chain hoists.
Here is some of the team in action (with high-vis and hard hats, of course!):
The strengthening works involved welding 20mm and 40mm thick steel plates to the flanges of some of the existing Cellbeams for their entire 10m length. It also required infilling some cell holes at critical points. This site welding alone took a gang of welders over two weeks to complete! We subcontracted the welding to City Arc Group, who did a very professional job, with no failures when tested.
We’re pleased that the works are mainly complete, with a few secondary steelwork areas awaiting completion.
LSJ Engineering was also awarded the architectural balustrading package of over £100,000, to begin shortly. We’ll update you when it’s underway…
We’re very pleased with the outcome of this project. It was quite the job, but our team rose to the challenge brilliantly, as always, and we worked with some very professional industry colleagues throughout the process.
Are you looking for structural steel work?
We are open for commercial steel projects! Contact the team here, or email us via info@lsjeng.co.uk. Alternatively, you can phone us 01702 290 585. You can browse other structural steelwork projects here. We look forward to hearing from you and discussing your project.