Developed together by one consortium led by Places for People & Balfour Beatty in collaboration with Masterplanner, Shephard Robson, construction has now begun on East Wick, with plans for Sweetwater underway. Across the two neighbourhoods, approximately 31% of homes will be affordable with Phase 1 providing 130 affordable dwellings, 105 homes to rent (PRS) & 67 market sales homes including town houses, mews homes, apartments & studios.
Overview
Sustainability & energy efficiency have been key drivers for the developers and so the design stage was vital in terms of ensuring the shape buildings were maximised from an energy perspective – capturing sunlight in colder months & reducing overheating in the summer.
The neighbourhood has already won the Sustainable Construction Award at the 2016 London Construction Awardsfor its groundbreaking, environmentally focussed design. These sustainable credentials fit perfectly with our own, and Eastwick is already achieving a 22.4% reduction in embodied carbon for Phase 1.
Sustainability Through Innovation
Metek’s light steel framing system was chosen at the outset to minimise the loads on the foundations and also because it could achieve the strict fabric efficiency performance requirements.
Phase 1 of the EWS project was started in 2019 and completed in 2021 and it achieved the BREEAM ‘Excellent’ environmental rating. It provided 302 apartments, townhouses and duplexes together with commercial and leisure spaces and was valued at some £100 million. Four architectural practices were involved in the design of a variety of building forms up to 6 storeys high. All used Metek’s light steel framing system.
The town houses were 3 storeys high and had floor spans of upto 6m using 250mm deep floor joists that were installed as large cassettes to speed up the construction process. The walls used 100mm deep C sections also installed as large panels. The self-weight of the lightweight structure was less than 150kg/m2 area. Wider spans were created using steel beams integrated into the floor depth.
The larger blocks on the main Waterden Road next to the Copper Box Arena were 5 and 6 storeys high and were brickclad. Retail and commercial units were provided at groundfloor.
Construction Details
Metek’s light steel structure was highly pre-fabricated and the wall panels were delivered in lengths of up to 6m and boarded on site. Floors were supplied as cassettes from Metek’s Wolverhampton factory. This meant that a fast construction programme could be achieved.
Light steel framing was chosen to minimise loads to less than 150 kg/m2 floor area, which is only 20% of an equivalent concrete structure and it meant that piled foundations were not required.
The construction of the 12 blocks took place in a phased manner in the overall 3-year construction programme. Construction of the 5-storey Block 5.5B started in July 2019 and was completed by the end of September 2019.
Block 5.5A had the external ‘exo-frame” steelwork and Blocks 5.9A and B had triangular cantilever balconies. The construction architect was Axis Architects with Studio Egret West (parcel 5.5 and 5.9), Piercy & Company (parcel 5.5B) and A Studio (parcel 5.5C) as planning architects.
The Metek walls used 100mm deep C sections in the form of double leaf separating walls between apartments or single leaf walls within apartments. All walls are X-braced for stability. The floors all used 250mm deep joists for spans up to 6m with additional steel beams integrated into the floor depth in the open plan areas.
Application Benefits
- Light weight construction to minimise loads on the railway tunnel below
- Fabric energy efficiency and control of over-heating leading to award of BREEAM ‘Excellent’
- Rapid construction of all buildings using prefabricated floor cassettes and wall panels
- Reduced deliveries and minimal site wastage by prefabricated construction
- External steelwork fabricated and installed by Metek
- Accurate quality-controlled construction
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This landmark project on the iconic Olympic Park site has been all about creating sustainable, energy efficient communities, which is a key driver for us here at Metek. By providing our bespoke system, reducing build time, manpower and waste on site (currently 0% of construction, demolition & excavation waste has been sent to landfill from the East Wick development), we have very much played our part in this landmark development.
