We were delighted to be appointed to design and install the light steel structure, balconies and steel purlin roof of the 99 apartments together with 14 commercial studios, which formed the first of this residential led, mixed used redevelopment scheme in the Leith dock area. The site is located on a key gateway site that has remained unoccupied for many years.
The project consisted of two blocks of very different sizes:
Block C – 5 storey, 79 dwelling residential building with 9 ground floor commercial studio’s arranged to form a raised courtyard garden to the rear.
The Waterfront scheme stands amongst a very diverse project set completed by the company due to the scale and effect of development. It has taken, what had previously been empty waste ground next to the Ocean Terminal shopping complex, and breathed a new sense of life and community to the desolate space, shortly to be served an extension to the Edinburgh tram network connecting the development to the city centre.
Construction Details
In the sphere of light steel framing, sustainability walks alongside efficiency; as a progressive and dynamic business, we have evolved our system to reduce our carbon footprint. This project was used as the pilot for our ongoing effort to increase panel sizes, first from 1.8m to 2.4m and then onto 6m wherever possible. This increase reduces the frequency of deliveries and the materials needed to fix panels together. Also, due to the increased use of mechanical handling, both in production and onsite, the process reduces the number of personnel needed in manufacture and erection, freeing up team to enable the business to service more projects overall.
Alongside the piloting of larger panel sizes, this project was also the first scheme delivered under our overarching philosophy of to undertake a greater scope of delivery. In this instance, we supplied and installed the ground floor podium structure of block B, and fabricated out of some 200+ tonnes of structural steelwork. This had been facilitated by our ongoing investment to upscale our factory production space and setup a dedicated, hot rolled steelwork fabrication arm at intermediate scale. This has allowed clients to place contracts with ourselves for the complete above ground superstructure, rather than just the light steel frame element. Simplifying coordination and responsibility by keeping the whole process ‘under one roof’.
Having been engaged early in the project by client we were able to offer significant efficiencies in overall project cost and buildability, by enabling the project team to design out details requiring complex solutions whilst still achieving the overall intent. Moreover, as the project team had never delivered a light steel frame structure before we were able to spend time educating them on best practice, solving potential problems long before they could crop up on site.
Our speed and efficiency in taking the contractually agreed programme for each block and shortening these considerably aiding earlier occupation of the dwellings.
Throughout the works our site team worked methodically and logically leaving areas complete, clean and tidy whilst still progressing quicker that the agreed programme. Indeed, our approach to addressing “snags” at the point of occurrence and eliminating these for subsequent areas is at the heart of delivering the project right first time.
Subsequent to completion of phase 1 and 2 our excellence of approach throughout saw us secure the third phase of the scheme some further 131 dwellings and 14 studios for delivery in 2023.
Application Benefits
- Award winning scheme
- Increased scope to further develop our HRS offering
- Increased panel sizes to reduce the carbon footprint
- A true reflection of the Metek ‘one-stop-shop’ solution
- Early engagement was key
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The Waterfront project was a build where early engagement was key in delivering significant efficiencies in overall project cost and buildability. This also enabled the project team to design out details requiring complex solutions whilst still achieving the overall intent. Moreover, our project team had never delivered a light steel frame structure before, we were able to spend time with the Metek team on best practice and solving potential problems long before they arrived on site.
