Heron Tower, London – the strategy for construction

Abstract

Heron Tower is a new landmark office building in the City of London which is due for completion in February 2011. With 47 storeys above ground and a total height of 232 m, it exceeds Tower 42, which has held the city record for the past 30 years. A steel stability tube structure encloses the office floor plates, carrying vertical and lateral loads to a secant pile wall at ground level, which forms the perimeter of a three-storey basement. This paper describes the construction strategy devised by the designers, with top-down basement construction concurrent with superstructure erection.