The Tradition of Topping Out
In building construction, topping out (sometimes referred to as topping off) is a builders’ rite traditionally held when the last beam (or its equivalent) is placed atop a structure during its construction.
The practice of “topping out” a new building can be traced to the ancient Scandinavian religious rite of placing a tree atop a new building to appease the tree-dwelling spirits displaced in its construction. Long an important component of timber frame building, it migrated initially to England and Northern Europe, thence to the Americas.
A tree or leafy branch is placed on the topmost wood or iron beam, often with flags and streamers tied to it. A toast is usually drunk and sometimes workers are treated to a meal. In masonry construction the rite celebrates the bedding of the last block or brick. In some cases, a topping out event is held at an intermediate point, such as when the roof is dried in.
The practice remains common in the United Kingdom and assorted Commonwealth countries such as Australia, and Canada as well as Germany, Austria, Iceland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, the Baltic States, and the United States, where the last beam of a skyscraper is painted white and signed by all the workers involved. In New Zealand, completion of the roof to a water-proof state is celebrated through a “roof shout”, where workers are treated to cake and beer.
The tradition of “pannenbier” (literally “(roof) tile beer” in Dutch) is popular in the Netherlands and Flanders, where a national, regional or city flag is hung once the highest point of a building is reached.
It stays in place until the building’s owner provides free beer to the workers, after which it is lowered. It is considered greedy if it remains flown for more than a few days.
Scarborough International Properties Limited
Scarborough International Properties Limited (SIPL) is a specialist UK real estate, development and trading business which earns fee income from fund and asset management as well as project and development management. It benefits from the long-standing Scarborough name which is well known throughout the property industry having undertaken many successful projects in Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and most areas of England including of late, stepping up the pace in the ‘Northern Powerhouse’ cities of Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield.
The size and scale of SIPL’s development activities alone have a combined Gross Development Value (GDV) approaching £2 billion and it is fully expected over the next five years or so, profits of real substance will be earned by the Company and its subsidiaries or associates. For strategic reasons certain of SIPL’s principal transactions are structured with joint venture partners – some long established and situated in the United Kingdom and others secured due to the long-standing business friendships built in the Far East, particularly Hong Kong, Singapore and China. SIPL’s real estate skills cover all sub-sectors of the market namely residential, commercial, retail, leisure; business parks, industrial and mixed-use projects.
Aside from its development activities, Scarborough’s name is synonymous with regularly enhancing value to its retained property assets many of which are traded to make constant and useful profit. Currently, the business owns and manages a portfolio principally of commercial and residential properties. The policy SIPL has of marrying highly valuable capital return based on development projects alongside securing ongoing income and trading profits from disposals should see the Group via SIPL continue its enviable track record and retain its reputation for delivering quality products to its benefit and that of its partners.
www.scarboroughgroup.com
Beijing Construction Engineering Group International
BCEGI is the international arm of Chinese firm BCEG. The company opened its office in Manchester in 2013 and now employs 65 people in the region. In addition to Middlewood Locks, BCEGI is an equity and construction partner working alongside Manchester Airports Group, Carillion PLC and the Greater Manchester Pension on the £800m Airport City, Manchester project. BCEGI is also an equity and construction partner on St Michaels, Manchester.
www.bcegi.co.uk
FairBriar International
Scarborough has rebranded its Residential division under the banner of FairBriar Group, a corporate name emanating from a formerly well-established and respected south east housebuilder, which in recent past years saw Scarborough Group with a controlling interest. Hualing and Metro now each own 25% of the FairBriar joint venture with Scarborough holding the 50% balance.
Metro Holdings
Listed on the Mainboard of the SGX-ST in 1973, Metro Holdings was founded in 1957 by the late Mr Ong Tjoe Kim. Starting out as a textile store on 72 High Street, Singapore, Metro has grown over the years to become a property investment and development group with a broadened and diversified asset portfolio, backed by an established retail track record, with a turnover of S$172.0 million and net assets of S$1.5 billion as at 31 March 2019.
Today, the Group operates two core business segments – property investment and development, and retail. It is focused on key markets in the region such as Singapore, the People’s Republic of China (“PRC”), Indonesia and the United Kingdom (“UK”).
www.metroholdings.com.sg
Hualing Group
Hualing is a private enterprise group where the major goal is commerce and trade for wholesale market (Core Business) and foreign trade, modern livestock industry development, foreign resources project development etc. Hualing Group has four wholesale markets, more than 30 affiliated companies and more than 3,000 employees in Xinjiang of China.
The four big markets are: Urumqi Hualing Comprehensive Market, Hualing South Xinjiang Comprehensive Wholesale Market, Hualing International Jewellery and Jade City, Hualing Construction Building materials export facilities. The total area is over 220,000,000 sqm and has more than 22,000 vendors.
Among them, Hualing Group’s integrated market as the largest commodity market in China’s western region is not only an important distribution centre of commodities in Xinjiang, but also a major channel to Western Asian countries for domestic products. www.hualing.ge/language/en
About Get Living
Get Living is the UK’s most experienced and progressive build to rent operator of large-scale residential neighbourhoods. A pioneer in the build to rent sector, Get Living offers simple, straightforward living in brilliant big city neighbourhoods. Its market-leading expertise is derived from over seven years of actively operating the UK’s most prominent build to rent asset, East Village.
Get Living’s £2billion portfolio comprises 3,000 homes for rent across three neighbourhoods; East Village and Elephant Central in London and New Maker Yards at Middlewood Locks, Manchester. Further neighbourhoods are planned in the UK’s six biggest cities, including Leeds and Glasgow, with ambitions to grow the portfolio to 12,500 homes within five years.
Get Living Plc is owned by Qatari Diar; the Dutch pension fund, APG and DOOR, a new co-investment platform for Delancey’s client fund DV4 and Oxford Properties, the global real estate arm of OMERS. www.getliving.com
