Google’s new headquarters, located next to Kings Cross Station in London, is a distinctive “land-scraper,” characterized by its elongated and moderately low-rise structure. The building’s construction heavily relies on precast concrete panels, meticulously crafted to ensure a consistent fair-faced concrete finish on floors and architectural elements. Laing O’Rourke was commissioned with the responsibility of designing, detailing, and manufacturing the precast panels at their pre-casting facility near Worksop.
Due to the project’s ambitious timeline, Fairhurst was brought in to conduct design checks, crucial for averting potential cost overruns and schedule delays. The precast unit designs posed unique challenges, incorporating intricate shapes, pre-stressing strands, and conventional reinforcement. While some units were relatively straightforward, many featured complex and unconventional forms, necessitating detailed arrangements and reinforcing specifics. The complexity grew further as the project progressed, leading to bottlenecks in the pre-casting yard and delays caused by meticulous unit checks.
Recognizing this challenge, Fairhurst was appointed to enhance the precast design checks, accelerating the rate at which designs moved into production. Despite initially having no prior knowledge of the project, we swiftly integrated with Laing O’Rourke’s checking team. We quickly grasped the project’s intricacies and streamlined the communication between the design and detail teams and the pre-casting yard, reducing conflicts and ensuring a smoother workflow for the entire project.
