Nottinghamshire Steel Construction Projects
Steel is often essential when a building needs to be constructed, rebuilt or given a second life. Across Nottingham and the wider East Midlands, that can cover everything from new schools to a cancer care centre. Here we highlight four remarkable construction projects that show just how versatile structural steelwork can be.
Nottingham Schools Used Steel for Speed
Steel's flexibility and speed of use came to the fore on three new schools built in Nottingham under the Building Schools for the Future programme, which used around 2,695 tonnes of steel in total.
At Nottingham University Samworth Academy in Bilborough, which caters for pupils aged 11 to 18, the choice of steel enabled the main frame to be put up rapidly to suit a tight construction schedule. Steel frames were used to give the longer spans needed for the halls, while two steel bridges, each formed from 12m beams on universal columns, cross the building's internal space.
Maggie’s Nottingham: Steel Shaped by Design
At the other end of the scale is Maggie’s Nottingham, a cancer care centre built on the grounds of Nottingham City Hospital. Designed by architects CZWG, its distinctive elliptical form is built from a remarkably simple steel skeleton.
Four large fabricated trusses form the perimeter base, with the roof made of curved steel. The rest is a light, fully bolted frame infilled with straight timber members, a combination that enabled a simple, fast way to build an otherwise complex shape. Steel also supports the central lift shaft and three split-level floors. The build cost came to £1.45 million, or around £4,000 per square metre.
Unity Square: A Steel Core for a Government Hub
Next to Nottingham railway station, Unity Square is a ten-storey tower with 389,000 sq ft of Grade A office space. Completed in 2021, it has been home to the UK Government’s East Midlands Hub, including HMRC. Steelwork contractor Severfield handled the connection design, fabrication and on-site erection of around 2,700 tonnes of hot rolled structural steel, plus metal decking at every level.
What makes the project really unusual is that its core is structural steel rather than the concrete that you’d normally expect in a building like this. The building has also acted as a catalyst for regeneration in Nottingham’s Southside area.
Mansfield Community Diagnostic Centre
Steel was also crucial for one of Nottinghamshire’s newest NHS buildings. Next to Mansfield Community Hospital is Nottinghamshire’s first purpose-built Community Diagnostic Centre for Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. It is a one-stop site where patients can have tests and scans to speed up diagnoses.
Work began after the former Victoria Hospital was demolished in summer 2024, and the steel frame was completed in April 2025. It comprises 760 individual steel pieces with a combined weight of 160 tonnes, which the Trust likens to around 32 ambulances.
The project marked the milestone with a topping out ceremony, where the final beam was signed and the last bolt tightened. The centre opened its doors in April 2026.
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