Structural Steel Design Awards 2025: Commended projects

A new steel-framed office space, created within an existing warehouse, demonstrates how inner city industrial buildings can be reconfigured with minimal material use.

A former storage warehouse in the centre of Cambridge has been carefully and creatively converted into a two-storey office space with the aid of steel construction.

Surrounded by neighbouring properties, access to the site was limited and so the steelwork members had to be fabricated and delivered to site in small sections.

The confined site also lacked the space for a traditional façade retention system, and so the steel frame was designed with a dual function, so that during construction it provided the necessary temporary propping.

New support columns were inserted against the existing façades to provide lateral restraint. Once in place, they allowed the existing roof to be removed in a controlled sequence to make way for the new lightweight structure.

Incorporating a green wall, a seven-storey BREEAM ‘Excellent’ commercial building has been constructed above an Elizabeth Line ticket hall.

Positioned on the edge of London’s prestigious Mayfair district, 65 Davies Street is an over-station development offering 19,800m2 of high-quality office space across the six upper floors.

The building is located directly above an underground station and, consequently, its design had to address unique technical challenges in terms of efficiency and acoustic performance.

Acoustic bearings were installed at every connection point between the station and the new steel superstructure to provide the necessary isolation. The building’s structural column grid was developed to align with the station box below, creating an efficient
and lightweight solution.

This included a tight and regular column spacing around the building’s perimeter and large spans within the floorplate’s centre. Every column position had to be developed and verified against the Elizabeth Line construction team’s design model.

Sat above an underground rail tunnel and a ventilation shaft, the design and construction of a 10-storey City office scheme had to overcome a number of unique challenges.

Spanning over a busy City of London station, 101 Moorgate has created approximately 21,300m2 of office space and 882m of ground floor retail.

The challenging site constraints required the design and construction of a series of storey-high steel trusses.

“Structural steelwork provided a cost-effective solution to the challenge of working with the load limits on the top of the station box and clear spans over the rail infrastructure,” says Waterman Group director Andrew Sherlock.

Structural steelwork has provided an efficient solution for the expansion of ExCeL London.

Originally opened in 2000, the third phase of construction at ExCeL London has extended the facility by a further 215m (the building is now 820m-long), delivering an additional 40,000m², which includes 12,000m² of ground floor exhibition space and 9,500m² of conferencing accommodation on the uppermost level.

A series of steel trusses, positioned at first-floor level and roof, span the width of the extension and form the required column-free spaces.

Adding some complexity to the scheme, the upper level of steelwork cantilevers 13m over the adjacent Royal Victoria Dock. The feature maximises the available floor space, while avoiding any loadings being imposed on the historic dock wall.

Around 50% of the steelwork was recycled material, contributing to the project’s BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating.

Other sustainable credentials include London’s largest rooftop array of photovoltaic panels, measuring 3,300m².

An efficient steel-framed design has created a seven-storey Dublin commercial development that sits comfortably within the city’s Georgian quarter.

Located in a historic Dublin area, close to the Grand Canal, Two to Four Wilton Park is a commercial office scheme, separated into three blocks, with each featuring a full-height atrium.

Open-plan floorplates have been created by positioning all of the columns along the perimeter or around the atria.

The building required a total of 5,000t of structural steelwork, with one of the most challenging aspects being an 8m-wide double-height opening between two of the blocks. The upper levels are formed with cellular beams (used for services integration) supporting a metal decked composite flooring solution.

The positioning and sizing of the beams’ openings were optimised to align with key mechanical and electrical routes, thereby reducing the need for secondary penetrations.

Achieving some of the highest wellbeing and environmental credentials, the Worship Square development has replaced two energy-inefficient buildings with a single high-quality modern office block.

Sat next to a new public square in the South Shoreditch Conservation Area, the nine-storey Worship Square office scheme was designed to be highly efficient in terms of cost, space, materials and emissions.

The design brief set out embodied carbon targets that were more than 50% lower than the UK Green Building Council baseline and 18% lower than the 2030 Greater London Authority aspirational benchmark. The project has achieved BREEAM ‘Outstanding’, WELL Platinum and NABERS 5.5* ratings.

Much of the steel frame, which is erected around a centrally positioned concrete core, is left exposed within the completed scheme, creating a modern industrial-looking interior.

Aligning with the project’s sustainable approach, steelwork contractor BHC, used recycled and renewably produced steel for all of the columns and beams.

Produced by BCSA and Steel for Life in association with Construction Management.