The erection of steelwork at the new Westminster Lodge Leisure Centre in St Albans has begun.

One of the main steel beams is 17m long, 1m deep, weighs 17 tonnes and is one of the heaviest that building contractor Willmott Dixon has ever installed.

Simon Ramage, Willmott Dixon’s on site Operations Manager said: “Installation of the steel frame is always a major milestone on any project, but we are especially pleased to have commenced the frame at Westminster Lodge as it is particularly complex. Our design team have spent many months detailing the frame, which contains a number of curves, radius elevations and several unusual oversized beams. So it’s great to see the final product being installed on site.”

To get the main beam into place, Willmott Dixon had to use a 100 ton crane to lift it. The beam is required both to give a clear span over the children’s confidence water to avoid having columns within this area, and to carry the load from the first floor over the training pool and café/bistro. All of the leisure centre steelwork is due to be completed by the middle of December, culminating with the installation of the 35m long timber Glulam roof beams over the main swimming pool.