Caunton Engineering have recently completed the erection of the structural steelwork for the new and larger London Gateway Hotel at the M1 motorway Scratchwood Service Area. The original hotel was built back in 1969 shortly after the service area itself was opened. The area now caters for over 67,000 vehicles each day.



The structure itself comprises a three and four storey steel frame, comprising over 400te of hot rolled sections, which were painted off-site with an intumescent paint system. The contract also required Caunton to supply and erect metal decking and metal staircases, and to place and finish-grout concrete floor slabs, in parallel with the installation of pre-fabricated bathroom units.



The photograph taken during the erection phase indicates the degree to which off-steel erection methods are now taking place - in this case by means of mobile elevating platforms, commonly known as cherry-pickers. Clearly attention to safety is increasingly becoming a driving force in the structural steelwork industry.
The Construction Manager for this fast-track project was Bovis Lend Lease. The architect was JWA Architects and the Engineer, Baxter Glaysher Partnership.