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RMD Kwikform provided a flying start for London waterside development
RMD Kwikform provided a flying start for London waterside development
RMD Kwikform's Flying Form support system made a major contribution towards keeping construction of the 103-apartment Thames-side Montevetro project in London on schedule. Thanks to the system's speed and simplicity, construction of the Richard Rogers' designed building progressed at a rate of one floor every week and a half.
The building, which stretches between Battersea Church and the river, has a triangular side elevation. It has three storeys at the southerly end, rising to 20 storeys at the water's edge, so the higher the development progressed, the more the floor area decreased.
The rapid rate of rise achieved by RMD Kwikform's Flying Form system was due to the company having taken the concept of quick-strip “table form” formwork to its logical m conclusion. For this particular project, around 30 Flying Forms were hired from RMD KWIKFORM, each having a 9-metre by 3-metre table.
Tailor-made to suit the size of slabs to be cast, the RMD KWIKFORM Flying Forms were simply craned into position and were secured while the concrete sets. They were then lowered from beneath the slab using adjustable base jacks, and rolled out to a point where the hooks of a chain sling could be connected. The Forms were then lifted by crane to the next floor level, and the process was repeated. A complete cycle can take as little as one week using this system, depending on the specification of the concrete.
Buildstone, the specialist sub-contractor working for Taylor Woodrow, says that the simple, repetitive nature of the work on the Montevetro project meant that few operatives were required, and these did not need to be highly skilled. In fact, the most arduous task was cleaning the Flying Forms between floors, and applying a release agent. In areas where access was difficult – such as stairwells and lift cores – RMD Kwikform's Alshor system was used. While similar in application to Flying Form, this system does involve dismantling the modular structures before moving up to the next floor and reassembling.
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