Ronan Point - Construction

Construction

There are three main methods of constructing tall buildings:

Steel

Here a set of steel members are fixed together to make the frame of the building. The Empire State Building and other New York skyscrapers are examples of this type of building.

In situ concrete

Here a mould or formwork is made using wood or another similar material. Steel reinforcement is placed in the formwork, then concrete is poured into the mould and allowed to set. The mould is removed, and may be reused to make identical castings in other areas of the building. The resulting building is a solid block of concrete made from multiple castings poured on top of one another.

The use of prefabricated concrete members - large panel systems

Here a set of concrete parts are made at a factory and are transported to the site, where they are lifted into place with a crane and then joined together. It is thought that a failure to join the panels correctly contributed to the Ronan Point collapse. The structure of Ronan Point and other LPS buildings of the time relied on gravity holding everything together.