Project overview
The Franck Muller Aeternitas Tower is a high-rise tower in Dubai Marina, developed by London Gate Real Estate Development. The render shows a tall glazed tower crowned by a large clock face. Wrenze Steel was appointed as third-party consultant for the steel structure on the project.
Our scope
A third-party consultant gives the developer an independent engineering opinion on work prepared by others. In that role, the task is to check the steel structure design prepared by the project’s designers, rather than to produce it.
Independent steel review usually works through these points:
- Design basis. Are the loads, load combinations and design codes right for the structure and its location?
- Analysis. Does the analysis model reflect how the steel actually behaves, with correct supports, releases and stiffness?
- Members. Do the member checks hold up for strength, stability and deflection?
- Connections. Can each connection transfer its forces, and can it be fabricated and erected as drawn?
- Drawings. Do the drawings match the approved calculations?
Comments go back to the designer, who responds or revises, and the review closes once each point is resolved. For a developer, this gives confidence that the steel on a high-profile building has been checked by an engineer with no stake in the original design.
The structure
In a tall tower, structural steel is often used for the elements that sit at the top or the edges of the building, where weight must be kept low and forms are more complex. Crown structures, architectural features, plant supports and façade frames are common examples. Steel at the top of a tower is exposed to the highest wind pressures, and its connections into the main structure have to carry those loads safely down into the building.
A third-party review on elements like these focuses on the load path, the stability of slender members and the steel connections that tie the steel back to the primary frame.
Read more about our structural engineering consultancy work and other high-rise towers, or request a quote for an independent steel review.
