Assuring design life of new office development
Background
A major new European Headquarters is currently being built in the City of London for financial software, data and media company Bloomberg L.P. The Foster & Partners scheme will house all of Bloomberg’s London operations and is scheduled for occupation by approximately 2,500 Bloomberg employees in 2017. Covering more than 60,000m², Bloomberg’s new City of London home will include two office buildings connected by a covered retail arcade lined with restaurants and shops. The development also includes the construction of a new entrance to the London Underground Bank Station.
Bloomberg London is currently the biggest development in the City’s financial district and during construction work, thousands of Roman artefacts have been unearthed in an archaeological dig hailed as ‘the most important excavation ever held in London’. Archaeologists were able to excavate the area when work began on the Bloomberg development and since then, around 10,000 finds have been discovered by 60 archaeologists – the largest haul of small finds to have ever been recovered on a single excavation in the capital. Items unearthed include coins, pottery, clothes, shoes, documents, lucky charms and other items which date back almost 2,000 years.
The Solution
Monolevel 844SP, a waterproof, engineering grade render, and Monomix HD, a high strength, structural repair mortar, were used to underpin and assure the design life of the new office development. They were specified in order to ensure the 120-year design life of the structure.
Monolevel 844SP and Monomix HD were applied by specialist contractor Byrne Bros (Formwork) Limited for slab edge trimming and remedial works at the Bloomberg development. Both Flexcrete products are CE marked as Class R4 for structural repairs and meet the stringent requirements of BS EN 1504. Suitable for the repair, rendering and profiling of vertical, overhead and horizontal structures, Monolevel 844SP and Monomix HD are easily trowellable, have excellent low sag properties and cure to provide high waterproofing properties with excellent protection from acid gases, chlorides and freeze/thaw cycles. Their high bond strength exceeds the tensile strength of concrete and both products are supplied as single component systems, requiring only the addition of clean water on-site.
Client
Contractor
Bloomberg