After supplying steel sections for Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, ArcelorMittal Europe – Long Products is now supplying steel for Europe’s tallest building, the Lakhta tower, located in St. Petersburg (Russia). Measuring 462 metres, the Lakhta tower and its adjacent building were built with HISTAR® 460 Russia, a grade developed for this specific project.
Inspired by gothic art
The Lakhta Center is scheduled to officially open this year. This very prestigious and elegant building claims several records, Europe’s tallest high-rise with 462 m and the northernmost skyscraper in the world, to name but a few. The tower’s 86 floors total a gross floor area of 163,000 m2. Designed by RMJM and completed by Gorproject, the tower’s unique look was inspired from a cathedral tower, culminating with a tapered and twisted spire in a fine point. Gorproject and Inforceproject were the structural engineers of the project. Renaissance Construction Company was the general contractor.
A strong involvement since 2008
At ArcelorMittal, the detection and following of this project began already in 2008. Over the years, at each phase of the project’s development, the teams convinced the structural engineers and the general contractor of the job to select a solution with heavy sections. Our research center in Esch (Luxembourg) was right from the start on board to support the mill in finetuning the quality of the steel and to achieve its homologation as HISTAR® 460 Russia with the relevant official institute and authority in Russia.
A high-performance steel grade, made in Luxembourg
The structural frame of the tower’s star shaped cross-sectional footprint, slightly different on every floor, features at its centre a circular core in concrete housing mainly the elevators. The tower’s 73,000 m2 facade is formed from 16,500 pieces of glass. At its perimeter, the structure rests on steel-composite-columns made of structural sections in quality steel HISTAR® 460 Russia. This high-performance steel grade allowed relevant cost savings in the program, by optimizing the weight and time to process and install.
The heavy H-sections were processed by cutting into T-sections for making cruciform shaped column profiles, which were subsequently encased in concrete. For the construction of the tower and the two multifunctional buildings, ArcelorMittal Europe – Long Products’ mill in Differdange (Luxembourg) delivered 21,254 tonnes of steel sections, including processing. It is one of a few rolling heavy sections, also known as jumbos, and the only one capable of manufacturing HISTAR® 460 combining extremely demanding mechanical requirements together with an excellent ease of processing at welding. The Differdange mill is known for an excellent track record of delivering tall buildings of this nature and is a proud supplier in helping to shape the skylines of cities across the world.
A new economic centre for St. Petersburg
Located in the Primorsky district of St. Petersburg, the Lakhta Center will create a sustainable economic zone by combining the office space of the tower with transportation infrastructure, green space, and several public resources, including a planetarium, sports complex, medical centre, performance hall and a bank. Outside of the building, the planned landscaped spaces consist of a 2,000-seat amphitheatre and a green promenade. The Lakhta Center is seen as the “pilot project” for this area on the outskirts of St. Petersburg, with the view to create a new area for business and living in this area. At the base of the tower two multifunctional buildings will mainly host a convention and conference centre with panoramic restaurant, observation deck, amphitheatre, atrium, retail areas, “World of Science”, transformable hall, health centre, sport complex, offices. The tower will serve as a major landmark for the area through its sheer height and its unique twisted and tapered spire form. The tower will be the headquarter of Gazprom, the world’s largest gas company.
Credits: ArcelorMittal
