Steel Buildings in Europe

Part 2: Concept Design 2 - 14 For commercial buildings, the floor a nd service zone is typically 800 mm to 1200 mm. For renovation projects where the original façade is retained, sli m floor or integrated beam s have proved to be attractive a nd can achieve an overall floor zone of less than 600 mm. The economics of long span construction may be summarised as:  Saving in cladding cost (up to 300 mm per floor)  Elimination of internal c olumns and incre ase in useable a rea (up to 3% of the plan area)  Fewer steel elements to install (up to 25% less)  Columns and façades can be located at the perimeter of the building  Ease of service integration and future servicing  Future adaptability of the space and re-use of the building. Figure 2.3 Rectangular openings in composite beams for service distribution 2.4 Lightweight structures and resource efficiency Steel construction of all t ypes is lightweight, even when including concrete floors. The self weight of a typical co mposite floor system is typically only 40% of that of a reinforced concrete flat slab. When the total building weight is considered, a steel framed structure is up to 30% lighter than the equivalent concrete building, which leads to an equivalent saving in foundation costs.