Barnshaws Group has helped deliver a new £70 million retail redevelopment project in Birmingham.

The contractor has developed one of the largest new Marks & Spencer superstore's in the country for specialist steelwork contractor James Killelea Limited.

In addition, the adjoining car park has been built from steel, with the roof and floor sections being curved by Barnshaws metal bending to ensure sufficient strength and controlled water runoff.

A underground car park has also been built from steel in order to create the most cost effective solution and the shortest build time. The 'roof' of the car park is at ground level and the designers needed it to be strong enough to carry the weight of the roof sections as well as providing a sufficient camber to ensure any rainwater is directed to the surface drains.


The new store is expected to generate up to 350 new jobs while the additional retail, restaurant and cafe areas will further enhance the development and its potential to attract shoppers.

Greg North, Commercial Director at Barnshaws, said the "crucial" aspect of the contract was the speed of supply.

"We have a long standing relationship with the steelwork contractor and they appreciate our ability to deliver large tonnages of curved steel on time. In this case it was very nearly 500 tonnes of universal beams that required a camber of between 50 and 100mm.

"The camber in each beam is carefully calculated to allow some deflection due to the weight of the roof section while still retaining enough of a curve to prevent any standing water on the car park surface. The sections ranged from 533 x 210 x 101 to 533 x 312 x 182 and each batch of beams was ordered in a specific sequence to suit the construction programme.

"In fact there are a large number of different specifications in terms of section size, length and camber that go to create the 15 metre square lattice formation that forms the roof. While our proximity to the site helped, we coordinated our production schedule with the build programme to ensure that each component arrived on time, ready for installation."