Steve Thompson of EOS Facades shares his views on the latest developments in light steel framing for a variety of different living environments.
The speed of construction coupled with enhanced quality and high levels of sustainability make light steel frames an attractive proposition for housing, particularly in the case of medium-rise buildings and apartments in mixed-use schemes.
Research published by the Resolution Foundation in August found that levels of home ownership in England have fallen to a 30-year low. The sharpest drop was recorded in Greater Manchester, where the proportion of home owners dropped from 72 per cent in April 2003 to 58 per cent this year. Meanwhile, the private rental sector (PRS) is capitalising on this trend, with the proportion of private renters in the area having nearly tripled in the past 13 years.
The private rental sector & mixed use
With private rental on an upward trajectory, a Knight Frank Residential Research predicted PRS units to increase from two million in 2004 to over five million by 2018. As interest rates fall, investors and pension funds are seeing Build to Rent and the PRS as a sound investment proposition and this represents an opportunity for the light steel frame sector.
Mixed-use developments generally comprise commercial or retail space at the lower levels and residential units available to purchase on a leasehold basis above. The combined nature of the project may be required for planning reasons or to maximise the return from the investment made in the land – as is often the case with Build to Rent developments.
The key requirement is the lightweight nature of the structure, which minimises the loading on the underground infrastructure, important when building over tunnels or brown field sites. This, combined with light steel frame’s ability to span between the transfer beams and to be sufficiently robust to not be affected by the differential deflections of the supports, offers multiple benefits to designers of mixed-use schemes.
A future-ready solution
The benefits of offsite manufacture, and of light steel framing in particular, come to the fore in urban residential projects as they often involve a mixture of apartments and commercial buildings. Being a rapid, reliable and predictable form of offsite construction, the advantages that are sought by the client and contractor are delivered to customers as one structural solution in the case of light steel frame.
As a versatile construction solution that is viable up to 10-storeys, the geometrical accuracy and rigidity offered by the use of light steel frame eliminates cracking and shrinkages, thus reducing the need for ‘call backs’ after the apartments are occupied.
Light steel framing comprises galvanised cold rolled C-sections of 70 to 100 mm depth in the wall panels, and 150 to 300 mm deep C-sections or lattice joists in the floors. Spans of up to 6 m can be achieved, which can eliminate internal load-bearing walls and therefore leads to flexibility in internal space planning.
Sections can be supplied in ‘loose’ bundles to make up in-situ or as walling, base or roof elements, and manufactured offsite as prefabricated cassettes. The prefabricated elements can also be fitted with insulation, lining boards and decking boards or even assembled into volumetric modular space frames if required.
Products are available with swaging technology and dimpling characteristics as standard. Panels and cassettes requiring boarding are presented with completely flush faces, negating the requirement for packers and shims. Tight tolerances can be provided as the stud and track sections effectively self-align, thereby ensuring that dimensional parameters are achieved without the need for complex jigging or clamping.
As an advanced high performance offsite solution, steel’s characteristics as a material mean that it is not susceptible to shrinkage, warping, cracking, rot infestation or moisture absorption. Steel is a robust, rigid and dimensionally stable material that does not suffer from movement created by moisture related issues. In my opinion, light gauge steel is perfectly positioned to meet the industry’s demands – it is future proof and future ready.
Steve Thompson is managing director of EOS Facades