Project details

If you’ve been watching The Block 2018 you’ll know that the build for this season’s show includes the creation of two penthouse apartments built on top of ‘The Gatwick’, making extensive use of framing made from TRUECORE^® steel.

The original plans for the penthouses involved extensive use of structural steel, and the decision to incorporate TRUECORE^® steel brought significant benefits, explained Aidan O’Shannessy, Site Manager for Erilyan – the building company working on The Gatwick for The Block.

“The original structural design for this project was 14 large spanning structural steel modules coupled together onsite to form a complete open plan structure for an internal fit-out. Moving to a hybrid structure incorporating internal walls into the structural design created the scope for framing made from TRUECORE^® steel to replace most of the structural steel and dramatically reduce cost. The original design would have seen up to 65tn of structural steel erected on the roof top. The new hybrid design incorporating framing made from TRUECORE^® steel reduced this by approximately 50tn.

Furthermore, having prefabricated steel wall frames made from TRUECORE^® steel resulted in a dramatic reduction in waste that would have been created by conventional timber infill walls built in situ at The Gatwick. It substantially reduced crane-time. And most importantly, bringing framing made from TRUECORE^® steel into the project allowed for an unchanged architectural design along with massive cost savings, and enabled the project to continue to meet its ambitious targets for the build and production.

We have been especially impressed by the product’s performance over larger spans and lower pitches than we thought possible. This project has benefited greatly from the use of TRUECORE^® steel; it’s lightweight, straight, fast to install and presented exceptional cost benefits.”

Aidan O’Shannessy, Erilyan