John Street Police Station, Brighton

MGP accepted Morgan Sindall’s challenge of building an eight storey free standing steel structure bounded and confined by an existing and busy police station to three elevations, with a road to the fourth side within the centre of Brighton. As if this wasn’t enough of a challenge the structure also had to punch through a lightweight concrete slab to connect to the foundations a further storey down. With regards access, MGP utilised lightweight and Compact Cherry Pickers and Scissors Lifts that had just enough duties to safely reach the top of the steel and were just slim enough to squeeze in amongst the densely packed steelwork – Nearly 30 no. Columns were crammed into just over 170m².  The steelwork design presented all sorts of challenges for the MGP detailing team but using the Tekla 3D modelling software these were overcome. We were not quite done – Working with Morgan Sindall and Stannah a further 6t steel was introduced and detailed to support Lift Shaft Track rails and to provide an Anti-Fall Through Screen between the 2 no. Lift Shafts.

Nearly 6 months after MGP issued their initial Drawings we have detailed 5000 Fittings and 1,600 Shafts to form approx. 1,500 no. Steel Assemblies weighing nearly 150t. Following fabrication this steel was painted with 500 litres of primer paint and then installed using nearly 8,000 bolts. Despite all the challenges, MGP are confident that we have successfully provided a multi storey steel frame that meets all expectations and specifications to the satisfaction of all parties involved.