In the heart of Hamilton a new office building is shaping up to be something special.

It is the Maxwell Roberts building, currently under construction on the corner of Church Street and Par-La-Ville Road.

It is one of a handful of buildings in Bermuda to be built entirely out of steel reinforced concrete.

But in the future, all of Hamilton?s offices may be built that way, said Director of Bermuda Project Managers Limited (BPML), Ian Feathers.

?Bermuda is a world-class jurisdiction now. Clients from New York or London want the same features in their buildings here as they do in large cities,? Mr. Feathers said.

As needs increase, amount of space decreases and costs escalate, chartered surveyors ? like Mr. Feathers ? have had to come up with a new solution to construction problems.

Using concrete was the only feasible way the building could be built, he said.

BPML?s client needed to acquire seven floors of income to fund the building?s costs.

Concrete construction, as opposed to structural steel enabled this.

?We fit seven stories into a six storey space,? he said.

It saves on construction time.

A steel framed building needs to be fireproofed. Often this requires steel frames to be coated in concrete later.

Concrete also blocks out noise better.

This building method is slightly cheaper as the price of steel has risen ? there has been increased demand in China.

When was shown around the site of the Maxwell Roberts building, concrete was set to be poured into ?system forms?.

These heavy frames surround wire columns of ?re-bar? and give the concrete shape.

The system forms are brought in from Canada.

They are moved quickly around site by ?Lofty? their tower crane.

Whole floors are laid at once.

Aluminium bars are laid on each floor with plywood nailed to the top.

Concrete is poured straight onto the steel skeleton and forms and once hardened, the forms are disassembled.

The $13m structure, on the site of the former Leslie White building, is expected to be completed by August, next year.

Insurance company, First Bermuda Group is expected to join a delicatessen and gymnasium as the building?s first tenants.