BETOCARE UK
BETOCARE UK CASE STUDY: THE UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING BUILDING THE PROBLEM BETOcare UK was first approached by Willmott Dixon in relation to its project at The University of Birmingham in July 2019 when a concrete sub-contractor has struggled to deliver the required standard of finish on an early part of the project; a concrete stair core in the basement. Delays affecting the vehicles transporting the concrete to site, as well as poor compaction, caused a cold join to form within the core, which created a sub-standard aesthetic finish on the £50,000 section.
atrium at the heart of the building, and there were extremely high specification requirements for the concrete finishes throughout. “One of the key aims, and part of the educational vision, was to expose the building’s frame in as many areas as possible – columns, beams, atrium, stairs, bridge sections as well as specialist features. So it was critical that the look of the concrete was excellent. I think it’s fair to say that this was not the start that anyone had hoped for, particularly given that the building was set to be the home of some of the UK’s leading engineering research talent for many years to come.”
POTENTIAL REMEDIEs Understandably, it was a cause for concern among all those involved, not least Jack Brooker, Senior Building Manager, Willmott Dixon, who oversaw all of the exposed concrete features across the project: “Exposed visual concrete was a crucial part of the overall architectural vision, centred around a four-storey
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Various options were considered to rectify the problem, and given the high standard of finish required, the drastic step of demolishing and re-casting the entire section – over 400 square metres of concrete in total – was one considered.
