The Concrete Centre’s most recent CPD seminar ‘Cost, Carbon and Concrete’ presented new cost data, showcased a sustainability exemplar and revealed potential new talent in a prize-giving ceremony for the Structural Concrete competition 2013.
Cost and carbon are two key metrics for measuring a project and The Concrete Centre seminar presented the latest guidance to enable engineers in designing with concrete.
Launching the latest cost data for commercial buildings, head of structural engineering at MPA The Concrete Centre, Jenny Burridge said: “The latest cost data from Davis Langdon shows that the findings from our earlier cost model study for offices still stands and concrete flat slabs continue to be the most cost-effective solution for office buildings.”
As well as being the most cost-effective solution, concrete can also be the most sustainable. Neil Mitchell, of Mitchellson, presented the BREEAM Outstanding Brent Civic Centre that is being heralded as ‘the greenest public building’.
The concrete specified for Brent Civic Centre used cement replacements in the concrete mixes for all foundations, slabs, columns & walls and recycled aggregates throughout the frame.
Ninety per cent of the final structure was exposed concrete which maximises the operational energy saving potential of concrete’s thermal mass. The building used precast concrete, post-tensioned concrete and in-situ concrete elements to deliver a total design that optimised requirements for programme, spans, finish, material efficiency and cost.
The event also provided the backdrop for the presentation to the winners of the Structural Concrete 2013 student competition. The competition required students to design a luxury residential building on a former industrial site.
The competition, sponsored by Laing O’Rourke, is designed to inform a module within BEng, MEng or MSc degree courses and this year, 11 universities entered their finalists into the National Competition. The competition winners were:
- First prize and the Sustainability prize went to Imperial College London students: Adedayo Ibrahim Adekola, Richard Fowler, Panagiotis Rousakis and Ruaridh Webster.
- Second prize to Bolun Cao, Khaleel Rahemtoola, Katharine Aston and David Tame of the University of Southampton.
- The Merit prize was awarded to Rebecca Rabjohns from Coventry University.
