A prestigious mixed-use development in the historic heart of a dockland town has made first use in the UK of a composite floor decking system from Arval by ArcelorMittal.

Hamilton Plaza, a £2 million contemporary block of 19 luxury apartments and two commercial units just off the Grade 1 Hamilton Square in Birkenhead, The Wirral, also made use of Arval’s structural roof decking.

The galvanised steel systems were supplied by ArcelorMittal within two weeks of order and installed by development partners and main contractors Dale Construction (Wirral), part of the Whyte Group, on the first, second and third floors and on the roof within 15 working days. This was despite the site being quite tight and there being a constant traffic management system in place.

The Arval systems were specified by Rolf Whyte, group managing director of the Whyte Group, and endorsed by architect Fiona Wroot of Wroot Design, based across the River Mersey in Liverpool, according to her for “ease of installation, construction method and because of the spans involved”.

She added: “They play a large part in allowing us to have open-plan apartments with a shallow deck profile and meet the Part E requirements.”

Her brief from developer Pinevale Properties was to create a contemporary mixed-use building from a redundant 700m² builder’s yard, which blended with the town’s Grade 1 historic Hamilton Square yet had its own identity.

She designed 15 apartments over three floors that appear to float over the two 120m² commercial units and three apartments on the ground floor and an underground car park that was excavated to a depth of three metres in the sandstone over the Mersey Tunnel.

The steel frame building clad with brick and cedar used a total of 2,340m² of Arval’s Cofraplus 60 open-rib trapezoidal and nestable composite floor decks manufactured from 0.75mm gauge steel and designed for medium spans up to 3.60m without props.

On the roof was 630m² of Arval’s Hacierco 56 structural decks which have been used under a single-ply membrane/built-up metal skin. The project took 14 months to complete.

Fiona Wroot added: “Planners loved the design and supported it wholeheartedly. They thought it would confirm the regeneration of the area and still look on it as one of the most prestigious schemes in the area.

“Arval was an inherent part of the construction and interfaced almost seamlessly with the other elements. The roofing and cladding created the overall look of the building by producing a floating building over the glazed ground floor.”

James Brown, senior contracts manager for Dale Construction added: “The site was quite tight but the more dominant obstacle was the constant traffic management required. All in all, the project was managed very well, with no major accidents and no quality compromised. The Arval product performed well due to timely deliveries and expert fitting and helped us to complete on time and to budget.”

Email: info@arval-construction.co.uk