Hidden from Holborn’s office workers for the last 11 months wrapped in protective sheeting, one of London’s biggest and most important office developments is rapidly taking shape.
To mark its structural completion, Kvaerner Construction held a traditional topping out ceremony at St Catherine’s House behind the now familiar nine storeys of sheeting on Friday.
The company is currently constructing the new offices not only behind protective sheeting, but also behind the 100 metres long by 30 metres high retained frontage of the former home of London’s registrar of births, marriages and deaths.
The Portland stone frontage, which dates back to 1915, and the new offices will be unveiled in Spring next year when Kvaerner Construction is due to hand over the 22,000-square metre building to developer Innassist Ltd.
Construction work on the site included demolition of the existing building, installing new foundations for a basement and erecting 2,000 tonnes of structural steel. It also included protecting Kvaerner’s neighbour, the London School of Economics, from noise and vibrations with massive acoustic boards which cover the whole of one side of the building and are held in place by their own temporary works.
The topping out ceremony was carried out by Kvaerner Construction chief executive Keith Clarke.
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