Sir Robert McAlpine has announced it will be opting for propping over structural steel on its redevelopment of Glasgow’s School of Art.

The firm will be using hydraulic shoring equipment on the project, claiming it will offer the benefits of speed of installation and the capability to monitor loads.

McAlpine are currently involved in the School of Art project, which will see the development of a five-storey building in Renfrew Street opposite the Grade A building.


The substructure of the building will require temporary propping during construction, as a double storey basement is being created in an excavation measuring approximately 60m x 34m x 10m deep.

Nine hydraulic props in total are being used; six at the upper level and three raking props at the lower level.

One of the props is 150-tonne, while the others are 250-tonne capacity MP250 hydraulic units with 610mm diameter steel tube extensions.

A wireless load monitoring system is used to measure the effect of the excavation on surrounding buildings. The system uses electronic load pins to log prop loads and transmit readings to a central server via GPRS.

This means McAlpine can adopt an "observational approach" to the lower level propping, enabling the firm to reduce the number of struts required.

Flexibility can then be adopted with regard to the design to, enabling the contractors to accommodate changes to the construction sequence.

(IT)