CASE STUDY: HIGH-RISE

Recently erected in South London are the UK’s tallest residential Modular steel buildings at 44-storeys and 38-storeys, forming a twin-tower development named Ten Degrees. Located at 101 George Street in Croydon, the 44 and 38-storey housing development is 440 feet tall and comprises 546 rental apartments, an art gallery, a rooftop gym, a sky lounge, café, private dining rooms, a pet spa, games lounge, cinema, co-working spaces and rooftop and ground level terraces. The Ten Degrees building is part of a major regeneration master-plan that will see 21 sites in Croydon deliver 10,000 new homes.

Modular construction is frequently cited as offering better quality, substantial cost savings and faster delivery than traditional construction and the proof of concept afforded by the Croydon development suggests that modular has definite advantages. The twin concrete cores (pictured) were completed, using slip-form construction, prior to the module installation. This resulted in the rare sight of two tall, very thin cores without any additional superstructure around them. The exterior cladding was installed using mast climbers so that two cranes could be dedicated full-time to lifting modules into position. Traffic disruption was minimized throughout the module installation. The modules were built off-site from standard construction materials.

As an example, a one-bedroom apartment is built from two modules, one for the living room and kitchen and the other for the bedroom and bathroom. As carbon emissions are reduced threw off-site manufacturing, the homes will use up to 67 per cent less energy than traditional builds. Each floor consists of 15 apartments spread across both towers, 7 on the lowest tower and 8 on the highest tower. One and a half floors were craned into place each week, with the cranes positioned at the top of each tower. Construction of a similar tower with conventional methods would take 4-years to build, but the use of modular steel construction has reduced the timeframe by almost half, just 26 months to occupancy.