Paul Smith, Balfour Beatty Project Director for The Madison, was recently featured in Construction Manager magazine discussing how modular construction, including offsite manufacturing techniques, are central to Balfour Beatty’s approach in delivering the 53-storey, 187 metre high residential tower near Canary Wharf, one of the tallest buildings under construction in the UK, for LBS Properties.
In the article, Paul explains how The Madison occupies a tight footprint in a busy location and is perfectly suited to the use of modularisation techniques. Techniques include the offsite manufacture of bathroom pods in Italy complete with finishes, fixtures and fittings and the manufacture of storey-high panels in China for the glazed façade which are repeated across each floor of the tower, both of which arrive on site ready for installation.
The methods being deployed at The Madison demonstrates how Balfour Beatty is supporting the delivery of its 25 by 2025 strategy which aims to reduce activity onsite by 25% by the year 2025 – increasing productivity, improving quality and safety and ensuring value for customers.
Balfour Beatty (www.balfourbeatty.com) is a leading international infrastructure group. With 28,000 employees, we provide innovative and efficient infrastructure that underpins our daily lives, supports communities and enables economic growth. We finance, develop, build and maintain complex infrastructure such as transportation, power and utility systems, social and commercial buildings.
- Our main geographies are the UK & Ireland, US and Far East. Over the last 100 years we have created iconic buildings and infrastructure all over the world including the London Olympics’ Aquatic Centre, Hong Kong’s first Zero Carbon building, the world’s biggest shopping mall in Dubai, the National Museum of the Marine Corps in the US and the Channel Tunnel Rail Link.
- Balfour Beatty’s UK and Ireland regional construction business is a leading integrator of complex, sophisticated and innovative projects that improve the UK and Ireland’s national infrastructure. Balfour Beatty is also an experienced provider of local and regional projects that help build lasting communities.
- Significant projects in Balfour Beatty’s current regional construction portfolio in London include: the Vine Street development, a new £85 million mixed-use student accommodation scheme in the City of London; the 60 Curzon Street residential scheme in the heart of London’s exclusive Mayfair district to deliver 32 luxury apartments; the East Wick & Sweetwater development which will secure the long-term urban regeneration benefits of the Olympics in partnership with the London Legacy Development Corporation, Balfour Beatty is in joint venture with Places for People and will create two neighbourhoods that will provide 1,500 homes; and, a student accommodation project worth £180 million providing 2,117 bedrooms across 28 buildings for the University of Sussex.
- Over the years Balfour Beatty has delivered a range of key projects to keep London moving and its economy thriving. Recently completed projects include: in Vauxhall, the delivery of a £42m student housing project for Urbanest, a 33-storey building that will provide a range of modern facilities, including personal and communal study areas; the new £30 million Bobby Moore Academy Secondary School situated on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London providing facilities for 1,120 students; the £35 million Royal National Orthopedic Hospital (RNOH) in North London on behalf of the RNOH NHS Trust delivering a state-of-the-art five storey inpatient ward facility, accommodating up to 123 beds.
