Caunton Engineering supplied and erected the steelwork for the vertical extension to two office blocks in London‘s Victoria. The two buildings, that span over some of London’s busiest railway lines, are both being enlarged with new steel-framed floors.

All of the steelwork was lifted into place by the site’s three tower cranes. It was erected in a grid pattern that matched the existing columns below and consists of primary and secondary cellular beams, used for service integration supporting a concrete slab with metal decking to create a composite flooring solution.

The majority of the steelwork package was a vertical extension, with connections being made to the existing roof through the concrete slab. Off-loading and accessing the new frame was also extremely challenging given that the majority of the existing services were still in place and live.

Erection of the rooftop steelwork had not been straightforward as the existing plant, such as chillers, were in use and needed to be kept operational throughout the project. The new steel had to be erected around the existing plant, and once a new three-storey element was completed, the plant was relocated to new rooftop positions, freeing up those areas for the new construction to begin.

Further steelwork was erected at ground floor level to create five retail units. The original buildings had a 5m-deep overhang starting at level one, sheltering some of the pavement along the main road. This overhang was infilled with new steelwork forming shopfronts that are flush with the building above, enhancing the public realm along Buckingham Palace Road.