FEATURE

Integrating Services and Structure

Michael Hawes
Proposed office developments must demonstrate minimum impact on the
environment and maximum flexibility for a long sustainable life. Steel shows
the way with integrated construction.

Planning and architectural restrictions

generate competition between structure and
services for the available space. Structural
zones are squeezed up resulting in heavier,
inefficient structural solutions, whilst the
service engineer is forced to use inefficient,
high aspect ratio rectangular ducting. The use
of Cellular beams solves both problems with
consequential environmental advantages.
The beams are designed compositely in office
floor construction with a smaller upper tee
compared to the lower te e to ensure the
maximum efficiency of ste el use in both
structure and ducting. The Cellular beams
take up the full available ceiling zone, enabling
the spans to be doubled without increasing the
construction depth. Ducting is then integrated
within the beam depth (fig. 1)
This paper explores the many opportunities
offered by Cellular beams to reduce the
environmental impact of construction in the
short, medium and longer-term.

the Regions sponsored report [1], which

concluded... The most economic long span
system was the Cellular beam scheme, which
was equivalent in cost to the shorter span
composite scheme....
Changing the g rid to long span without
increasing the construction depth offers many
environmental advantages.
When considering the environmental impact
we need to evaluate all stages of the building
life, and to quantify the true impact and legacy
of our decision to build in a particular form.
The stages are: Life expectancy of the structure and whether
the building layout will ensure maximum
operational use before demolition becomes the
only option.
Environmental impact of the proposed
structure on the construction process and
costs.
Environmental impact of maintaining the
building during its life.

Positions of corridors and walkways are

dictated by the column positions and much
floor space becomes unusable. The options for
office layout are limited and lower utilisation of
floor space results. By contrast, doubling the
span and removing the inter nal columns
provides complete flexibility of space. Desk
and office layouts can be designed for optimum
efficiency, however many times the tasks and
needs of the occupants may change during the
building life.
Short span floors with unwanted internal
columns will become increasingly difficult to
lease, whereas clear span office open floor
layouts increase the number of potential users
and ensure maximum building occupancy and
longer building life.
The most environmentally damaging action is
to demolish one building in order to replace it
with another, simply because it no longer
meets current needs.

Service Zone

Suspended Ceiling
Short Span

Raised Floor

Service Zone

Suspended Ceiling

Reduced construction depth

Raised Floor

Reduced construction depth

Reducing Environmental
Impact of Construction

Clear Span

Fig. 1. Integrating services allows longer spans without increasing construction depth.
(High aspect ratio rectangular ducting is replaced by highly efficient circular ducts)

Improving the Building Grid

Cellular beams are replacing restrictive short
span grids with more flexible long span layout
without increasing construction depth or cost.
This has been demonstrated on many projects
and independently verified by the UK
Department of the Environment Transport and

Reusability of the building and its individual

components.
The legacy to the environment after
demolition.

Extending Life Expectancy

Short span floor layouts limit flexibility in use.

Structure
The effect of using a long span office layout in
comparison to a short span one is dramatic. A
single span of 18 metre layout offers a
dramatic saving over a two bay 9m grid. A
typical 9 m grid contains nine beams, whilst
the clear span equivalent contains only five
beams. This is a 44% reduction in beams,
without considering the reduction in columns.
The work of a fabricator is all in the
connections, cutting to length, notching,
drilling, punching and welding of end plates
and fittings, with multiple handling of each
element through from stockyard to painting
and delivery. Every part of the frame
construction process is significantly reduced
by going clear span. With 44% fewer beams
there is a matching reduction in energy
expended on fabrication.
Erection time is not governed by the member
length, but the time needed to pick, swing and
temporarily bolt each member into place. A
clear span layout will be erected in half the
time of a short span arrangement (fig. 2).
The number of foundations will also be
reduced and this can have striking benefits on
sites with contaminated or poor g round
conditions. With low-rise buildings it is often
possible to remove the internal twin pile caps
and span to the outer piles, without changing
the size of the remaining piles. This offers
significant environmental savings both

FEATURE

Short span after

15 pieces erected

Clear span after

15 pieces erected

Fig. 2. Twice the area can be erected in the same time.

500 Dia

500x400

600x350

900x250

Area m2

0.196

0.2

0.21

0.225

Perimeter mm

1570

1800 +14%

1900 +21%

2050 +30%

Guage mm

0.8

0.8

1.0

1.0 + stiffeners

Weight kg/m

9.9

11.3 +14%

14.9 +50%

16* +60%

Hanger spacing m

One every 3m

Two every 3m

Two every 3m

Two every 3m

(*Weight excludes stiffeners required to duct)

Table 1. Comparison of equivalent rectangular to circular duct.

Servicing
Changing from rectangular to circular ducting
offers a number of benefits. It reduces the
volume of materials consumed and more than
halves the installation time. Circular ducting is
more rigid, allowing the use of thinner gauge
material. The circular ducting also allows
higher flow rates without inducing noise borne
pollution from drumming.
Replacing a 600 x 350 mm duct with a 500 mm
circular one saves nearly 33% in duct material.
This ignores the additional savings from
production wastage, as circular ducts are
usually made from continuous strip spiral
wound with minimal waste, whilst fabricated
rectangular ducts are cut and bent from flat
sheets with higher wastage levels (table 1).
Installation time is more than halved, as only a
single drop rod is needed rather than double
hangers for rectangular ducts. Circular ducts
with push fit seals guarante e minimum
leakage and they can be installed in a fraction
of the time taken to apply sealant or tighten
multiple bolt flanges on rectangular ducts.
(When access is limited, sealing is never
adequately completed) See references [3] and
[4] for detailed savings.

Reducing Environmental
Impact of Maintenance

Air Tightness
A European Commission funded report on
energy conservation in buildings [3] addressed
the significant losses caused by air leakage
from ducting. Quality circular ducting is
manufactured complete with push fit seals
usually guaranteed to category D. The Report
concluded, The order of magnitude of energy
savings that can be achieved by using air-tight
ductwork in Europe is probably in the region
of 1 to 10 TWh/year. (p. 105). Field tests in
Belgium showed how dependant rectangular
ducts are on installation quality controls, when
compared to push fit circular ducting (table 2).

Sick Building Syndrome

Life Cycle Assessment

Much has been written on the causes of SBS

and its effects on occupational heath. Poor air
quality in buildings is the main issue. Over
time, ducting becomes contaminated with dust
and fungus. Regular inspection and cleaning of
ducting is required to maintain a healthy
environment for the occupants. Rectangular
ducts are prone to health problems. They
require lower air velocities to avoid noise
pollution from dr umming, and stagnant
airflow at the corners leads to early deposits of

In-depth analysis was undertaken by the Steel

Construction Institute, UK, ref. [2] looking at
short and long span options in both concrete
and steel. This concluded that variations in
embodied energy and CO2 from one form of
structure to another are insignificant when
compared to the energy in use and CO 2
released in running the building.
The highest initial embodied energy for the
structures considered was 9.1 GJ/m2 and 810
kg/m 2 CO 2 . This included all aspects of

700

Rectangular Initial
Rectangular Final
Circular

600

Leakage air flow rate (m3/h)

immediate and long term. Many inner city

sites with poor ground conditions are littered
with piles from previous structures. Unwanted
old piles cause many problems, restricting the
options for future use. Contaminating the
ground with more piles than necessary is
costly and poor use of resources.
When sites are contaminated, all risks are
directly proportional to the number of times
penetrations need to be made into the ground.
Clear span schemes minimise the risk and,
where possible, leave low level contamination
undisturbed.

dust. Circular ducts with higher velocities and

minimum frictional drag stay cleaner for
longer. Rotating brushes attached to a vacuum
extraction unit provide fast, effective cleaning
inside circular ducting. In comparison,
rectangular ducts cannot be so efficiently
cleaned.

500
400
300
200
100
0
Rectangular Initial Rectangular Final

Circular

Table 2. Impact of replacing rectangular ductwork with circular in a Belgian office building
(Initial leakage of rectangular took many person-hours to reduce to final leakage hours, but
circular push fit ducts required no supplementary work to outperform rectangular.) [ref. 3] (p. 78)

FEATURE

10000

H&V
Lighting
Other
Structure

Carbon Dioxide (Kg/m2)

8000

6000

4000

2000

Avoiding Demolition

0
0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Years

Fig. 3. Cumulative life-cycle Carbon Dioxide. (See reference [2])

140

H&V
Lighting
Other
Structure

120

Primary Energy (GJ/m2)

obtaining, delivering and erecting the building

on site. Of this, the embodied energy from
steel frame and columns was only 2.5 GJ/m2
with carbon dioxide at 220 kg/m2
Comparing these figures to the total life cycle
costs from reference [2] (figs 3 & 4) shows just
how insignificant the structure cost (thin black
line at base) is compared to the running costs.
The Cellular option costs less to build the
structure and install the ducting. It also yields
both short and long term environmental and
commercial savings.

100
80
60
40
20
0
0

10

20

30

40

Years

Fig. 4. Cumulative life-cycle energy. (See reference [2])

50

60

Choosing to demolish one building to replace it

with another, simply because the old structure
no longer meets current needs, is the worst
environmental option.
Using a clear span, flexible, Cellular beam
structure maximises opportunities for office
use, whilst providing space for expanding
servicing needs. This avoids the need to make
that final choice (fig 5).
Conclusions
Proposed office developments must
demonstrate minimum impact on the
environment and maximum flexibility for a
long sustainable life. Steel shows the way with
integrated construction.
Improving office-building stock by using an
open clear span, instead of inflexible short
span frames with a forest of internal columns,
ensures maximum usable building life, with
optimum efficient utilisation of floor space.
Selecting a form of construction that promotes
the use of circular ducting has the added
benefit of reducing CO2 emissions during the
extended building life.
Cellular beams can achieve all of this without
increasing construction depth or cost.

Michael Hawes is Technical Director of Westok
Structural Services
This paper was presented at the Steel in
Sustainability conference in Luxembourg,
May 2002.
2002 International Iron and Steel Institute

References
1 Mckenna, P.D. & Lawson, R.M. (P166) Design of
Steel Framed Buildings for Service Integration.
Published by The Steel Construction Institute,
sponsored by UK Department of the
Environment, Transport and the Regions.
2 Eaton, K.J. & Amato, A. (P182) A Comparative
Environmental Life Cycle Assessment of Modern
Office Buildings. Published by The Steel
Construction Institute.
3 Carri, F.R, Andersson, J , Wouter, P., Improving
ductwork. A time for tighter air distribution
systems. European Commission Directorate
General XVII for Energy group Energy
Conservation in Buildings and Commercial
Systems Program report.

Fig. 5. Future proof for servicing needs, and office layout.

4 Lindab Ventilation AB. Ductwork turns full circle.

A designers guide to the benefits of circular
ductwork systems. Published by Scandiaconsult
Box 35 S-164 93 Kista, Sweden.