The project, at 2 Finsbury Avenue, part of the Broadgate campus, comprises two towers, one 37-storeys tall, the other 23 storeys, connected by an 18-storey podium. The main contractor is Sir Robert McAlpine.
Mabey Hire, previously a family-owned UK business, is now part of German formwork and scaffold manufacturer Peri following its acquisition last month (see previous story here).
Foundations specialist Cementation Skanska was required to install a secant piled retaining wall to a maximum depth of 38m in addition to bearing piles and plunge columns to allow a top-down construction method.
Cementation Skanska鈥檚 project manager Chris Roberts said: 鈥淎s part of this, we required two stages of finger props, connected to the king posts installed in the perimeter secant wall piles, which would allow excavation of the future basement levels. It was here that we turned to Mabey Hire and its range of temporary propping equipment.
鈥淲e felt [Mabey Hire] were well placed to cater to the scope of this project. As a result, we hired their Mass 25 and Mass 50 props, which we installed in various lengths, due to the differing requirements of our king posts.鈥�
Mabey鈥檚 Mass 25 props can support up to 340kN on one leg and the Mass 50 can withstand loads up to 600kN. 鈥淕iven the considerable size of the development鈥檚 substructure, the expected loads on the temporary works equipment was high,鈥� said Roberts. 鈥淚n fact, in this case it was up to 550kN. This meant that any solution installed had to be able to meet those requirements, which Mabey Hire鈥檚 did.鈥�
The 2 Finsbury Avenue development is due for completion in 2027, providing a new landmark destination and working space for Broadgate and London.
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