A problem in differential movement

[Paul Jennings]

An interesting project is on the cards.  New Passivhaus tower blocks linked by sky bridges, in London. Very few details yet, but I was thinking about differential movement and how we manage the airtightness. Has anyone already been involved in projects where they’ve had to manage airtightness when there might be exceptional differential movement?

I was thinking about a sky bridge at, say, the 10th storey, between blocks 50m apart, probably constructed on some substantial I-beam steels, but probably a rectangular tube.  The tube can fairly readily be made airtight, by how much differential movement might there be, and how do you ensure airtightness?

Of course, doing the airtightness will follow on from the structural engineering, so I’m somewhat premature, but it was a challenge that interested me!

[Author]

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