The Metropolitan Police has selected Bi-Steel – a steel/concrete composite material – made and installed by Corus, for the perimeter security wall at its New Scotland Yard offices in central London.
The 90m long Bi-Steel wall provides unrivalled blast protection, the makers claim, when compared with more traditional reinforced concrete solutions.
It’s part of a general security upgrade on the site by main contractor, Wates. Corus Bi-Steel’s rapid construction, the makers add, is achieved by pre-fabricating the basic wall units off-site and pinning them together and concrete filling on-site, over the course of a few hours. This feature is especially important in a busy city centre location, such as New Scotland Yard, where disruption must be kept to a minimum, the manuafcturers add.
Enquiries
Over the last six months, Corus has seen a significant increase in enquiries from both public sector and private groups for its latest blast protection products. The Bi-Steel panels, offering blast protection and blast containment, are used in the construction of buildings to protect vulnerable parts of buildings, such as data centres and areas housing hazardous materials, from attacks.
Fred Chedham, Manager for Defence and Security at Corus Bi-Steel, joined the firm in October 2004 after 23 years as an army officer. He says: “The protection of people and property in the UK is higher than ever on the agenda. It is now vital that we re-examine previous security measures. Despite technological advances, when it comes to structural security measures there is a tendency to simply repeat what has been done before.” The firm adds that Bi-Steel can also be used in the construction of permanent or temporary structures such as anti-attack
vehicle barrier systems, designed to provide enhanced levels of perimeter protection at security-sensitive locations. Recent applications for these barrier systems include the G8 Summit and Labour Party spring conference. Two other security barrier systems have also recently been deployed in Westminster, central London.
About the product
Panels consist of two steel faceplates, separated by an array of transverse bar connectors. The cavity is then filled with a structural grade concrete. Applications include control centres, office buildings (entire structures or specific vulnerable parts), blast walls, access control points and anti attack vehicle barriers.
