What if you could reduce floor steel by 75% – and still meet floor dynamic performance targets?

The construction industry is facing high-stakes decisions as the cost of steel is set to skyrocket – and, with the industry so reliant on this critical material, riding it out isn’t an option.

The good news: the is a way forward. The rising star in construction has the potential to shape the way building owners, engineers and architects approach the eternal quest for floor vibration serviceability. But more than that, it could also slash steel requirements in composite steel-concrete floors by 75% in high-rise builds.

Rewriting the rules of high-rise construction

Floors in multi-storey buildings typically make up 60% of the whole building weight. Imagine reducing the amount of construction steel on all floors of a skyscraper by three quarters and still achieving the same floor vibration performance. Not over decades or using futuristic materials, but with technology that’s already here.

CALMFLOOR, the world’s first commercially available active mass damper for floor vibration control, has the potential to quietly rewrite the rules of high-rise construction. And the numbers are staggering.

In a realistic case study of a commercial tower, 12-15m floor spans – or longer – are most desirable for those coveted open, flexible floor layouts. But long spans often mean one thing: unwanted vibrations under footfall. The conventional fix has always been to throw more material at the problem – larger beams, deeper floor systems and heavier concrete slabs.

It’s a brute-force approach that’s worked for over 70 years, but at a high cost: added weight, structural depth and massive use of steel. The result? Increased loads on foundations and vertical support elements (columns and walls) – with considerable architectural, financial and environmental compromises.

CALMFLOOR has the potential to change the game completely

By actively managing vertical floor vibrations instead of resisting them with unnecessary structural materials and bulk, CALMFLOOR allows engineers to meet floor vibration criteria without increasing floor weight or depth. We carried out a desktop study of a realistic floor in a multi-storey building and demonstrated that the impact of CALMFLOOR on reducing material usage could be profound.

This study involved a realistic 1,400m² composite steel-concrete floorplate spanning 15m. We switched from conventional structural beefing-up to CALMFLOOR and reduced steel usage from 118.6 tonnes to just 30.1 tonnes per floor – a 75% saving. And, since no additional heavy concrete was needed in the composite floor deck, the total weight of the structural materials from which the floor was constructed dropped by 25%.

But these benefits go beyond spreadsheets. They translate directly into reduced costs, lower embodied carbon and more usable building volume. In the same case study, which mimicked a typical floor plate in a high-rise building with a central horizontal stability core, CALMFLOOR shaved 94mm off the structural floor depth. Multiply that across, say, 50 storeys and nearly 5.5 metres of vertical space could be reclaimed – enough to fit an entire additional floor within the same zoning height. That’s 1,400 m² of extra lettable space, unlocked with no increase to the building envelope.

Developers are rarely offered the chance to reduce costs and increase value. CALMFLOOR delivers both.

Compared to a conventional 50-storey, 70,000 m² tower, a CALMFLOOR-enabled floor design could save US$48 million in structural works – even after accounting for the system’s cost – under a realistic design and funding scenario. Add the extra income from the 51st floor at say, around US$1.2 million per year, and the entire investment pays for itself in under three years. After that, it could return over US$800,000 annually, even with maintenance of CALMFLOOR units factored in. What’s not to love?

No forced trade-offs in building design

The gains don’t stop there. Perhaps CALMFLOOR’s most important advantage is that it removes the usual trade-offs in building design:

  • Architects retain their preferred long spans and floor layouts.
  • Engineers get to work with lower structural mass – reducing self-weight, seismic demand and floor depths.
  • Contractors benefit from faster installation, less crane time and easier logistics.
  • Owners get a faster build, lower running costs and a more valuable asset from day one.

For decades, floor vibration control, which is now a near-universal requirement, has been an afterthought, solved with crude methods that added colossal weight, cost and complexity. CALMFLOOR flips that equation. It turns vibration compliance into a design enabler that delivers measurable financial value.

This isn’t speculative. It doesn’t rely on inflation, appreciation or creative accounting. These are real, construction-stage savings based on 25 years of research and proven engineering. In an industry where margins are tight and risks are high, CALMFLOOR offers something rare: a low-risk, high-reward improvement. And the results aren’t decades away – they’re visible within the first three years.

The complete data layer for your floor

There’s plenty more to CALMFLOOR than unbeatable cost savings – and it starts with data. CALMFLOOR comes with CALMCONNECT – the world’s only active floor vibration performance portal that delivers unrivalled 24/7 dynamic, dependable data:

  • Floor performance insights – available for the first time ever
  • Incredible levels of real-time and historic floor vibration data
  • Smarter decision-making for floor and building usage changes
  • 24/7 vibration data analysis and monitoring
  • BIM integration

In short: CALMFLOOR doesn’t just improve vibration performance. It improves the entire business case for long-span, high-rise development and comes with a world of floor vibration data as standard.

Want to know more about how much you can save with CALMFLOOR? Talk to our experts today.