Tanaka Business School (now know as Imperial College Business School) opened in June 2004. This building provides Imperial College with a superb main entrance fronting Exhibition Road and additional accommodation for the Business School.
The development was designed by Foster and Partners, with the service designed by Buro Happold Consulting Engineers.
The glazed atrium a striking aspect of the new building providing year-round usable space. It was the need to provide electrical services in the area that provided Buro Happold with a problem: How to provide services in an area that required cleaning using a 3 legged cleaning boom that would apply higher point loads than normal to the floor.
Cableduct designed a series of bespoke products to be used as junction boxes and service outlet boxes fed by underfloor trunking that would withstand these loads.
Firstly, the junctions boxes required were 400x400mm square, to fit in a screed of varying depth between 130-150mm. The boxes were supplied with a stainless steel lid and frame with a 25mm recess in the lid to accept the stone used on the atrium floor. This was made from 2.0mm stainless steel with a 6.0mm thick steel infill for further strength. Because of the size of the box a central support was provided, that had to be adjustable to cope with the varying screed depths.
The lid was fitted with gasket to protect the box when the floor was cleaned. Smaller stainless steel floor boxes, 325x260mm and also height adjustable, were also supplied, and provided with 3.0mm reinforced lids
Cableduct is committed to continual product development, engaging with customers to feed their needs into the design process. As a result of this project we have now redesigned our 700 series floor box, and can offer a strengthened design that has been load tested.
This floor box is manufactured with a height adjustable inner frame as standard, with the lid and frame manufactured from 2.0mm stainless steel, and fitted with a 4.0mm galvanised strengthening plate. It can withstand a point load of 3kN for 24hrs with a permanent deflection of only 0.01mm. It sustained a safety load of 9kN, with failure occurring at 19.96kN.
