Construction Magazine June 2015 | Page 16

MANAGEMENT
CG : Modular systems are helping us to construct tall buildings more quickly , but doesn ’ t this take away from the individuality and beauty of the buildings ? AD : If you look at existing 400 metre and 500 metre tall buildings , you will see that each one is individually handcrafted and they are each unique and beautiful in their own way . A good observation is that this could be the reason why they take so long to build ; however , this is not necessarily true .
There ’ s a beautiful hotel in China called the T30 Hotel . The T30 was prefabricated and the 30-storey tower was erected by 200 Chinese workers in just 15 days . This hotel broke the Broad Group construction company ’ s own past record of building a 15-storey building in just one week . This was all possible because modular , prefabricated solutions were used . We are starting to extrapolate these principles to expedite the construction of even taller buildings . The goal isn ’ t to break records , but to deliver a high performing tall building within a shorter amount of time .
CG : How are modular tall buildings being used at present ? AD : The way that we ’ re currently using modular systems in tall buildings is primarily through modular floor systems and columns . The floor system is pre-engineered and prebuilt , so the floor decking and beams are already in place when we start erecting a building . The columns are also pre-engineered and are brought
16 June 2015