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Technical
In pictures | Bracing the basement of Mace’s giant City of London Police HQ
Cristina Lago Deputy Editor
Mabey Hire is supplying the top-storey basement props and the groundworks support equipment for the third-storey excavation level (Zute Lightfoot)
Mabey Hire has designed and manufactured bespoke props to provide structural support to Mace at its ongoing London project, Salisbury Square.
The Salisbury Square development, funded and delivered by the City of London Corporation, will house a purpose-built 18-courtroom facility that will combine all the Square Mile’s existing courts, except for the Old Bailey, and the new headquarters of the City of London police.
“Salisbury Square is a unique project and has presented some considerable challenges from a temporary works perspective,” said Arran Phillippou, major projects manager at Mabey Hire.
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“First, is the sheer size of the development, with the site footprint covering over 5,000 sq m. Second, is the depth of the excavation and the significant loads encountered as a result. Finally, given the city-centre location, there was the added challenge of surrounding infrastructure and structures, with strict criteria and requirements to adhere to.
Mabey Hire also supplied above-ground propping to support and retain a listed building, which was located within the site footprint
Variety of props
“Our proposed scheme featured a variety of our Super Bracing Struts, ranging from 400mm to 1,000mm, in addition to our Supershaft-plus bracing system and steel waler frames. Due to the immense loads presented by the project, a larger-capacity prop was also required. As a result, we decided to invest in the design and development of a new 1,200mm diameter prop specifically for this project.”
Mabey worked with Keltbray’s site teams on the installation of the props
Phillippou added: “Here, having the expertise and ability to effectively react and adapt to changing site conditions and requirements was critical. Due to the need to design and manufacture the new bespoke props, early collaboration was essential, with the temporary works design delivered 12 weeks in advance. However, as construction work commenced and new information came through from site, we had to be able to adapt both the prop design and our proposed temporary works scheme to reflect this.”
As the project progressed, the temporary works requirements also evolved. For example, Mabey Hire also supplied above-ground propping to support and retain a listed building, which was located within the site footprint.
Keltbray is delivering the project’s substructure works for Mace.
The January/February 2026 issue of Construction Management magazine is now available to read in digital format.
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