Halfen 'Ski' cast-in channel assemblies

'Skis' provide double-skin support at Manchester civil justice centre.

The problem of making heavy duty, close-to-edge fixings in the thin metal decks of the new Civil Justice Centre in Manchester has been solved by the use of Halfen's specially designed and fabricated 'Ski' cast-in channel assemblies.

Designed by architects Denton Corker Marshall with Connell Mott MacDonald as structural engineers and Bovis Lend Lease as main contractors, the £100 million project will provide some 30,000m2 on 15 levels.

A feature of the design is the double-skin cladding comprising an inner leaf of unitised system cladding and an outer leaf of glass curtain walling with a walkway between.

The inner skin is secured at every floor level whilst the outer skin and walkway are suspended from hangers at every other floor level.

This plus the cantilever effect of the walkway create very high loads, catering for which is further complicated by the floor slab thickness of only 150mm.

After close collaboration between the curtain walling contractors, Joseph Gartner and Co UK , the structural engineers and Halfen, it was decided to use Halfen's 'Ski' assemblies to provide fixings.

The assemblies comprise pairs of 350mm long sections of channel - in this case HTA 52/34 hot-rolled channel - joined by light weight spreader straps.

Non-structural, the straps ensure the correct spacing of channels and allow for easy fixing to the deck with self-tapping screws.

Speaking about their decision to select Halfen channels, Rob Simcock, Joseph Gartner's contract manager, says "Halfen is the quality product that takes higher loads and has a better finish".

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