THE MOST EFFECTIVE STEEL CONSTRUCTION SOLUTION A
great construction project is completed on-time, within budget and according to plan – a brilliant construction solution can improve on the plan, dramatically reduce materials costs and be completed in an extremely rapid timeframe. That’s what BlueScope Buildings delivered, when they supplied a tailor-made BUTLER® building for a leading Australian manufacturer.
A site at Emu Plains was already home to smaller manufacturing operations, the brief was now to deliver a structurally sound and cost-effective expanded facility of 8050m2 factory plus attached office building. Total Constructions were contracted to turn the design by MCHP Architects into reality, so Total Constructions approached BlueScope Buildings to make it happen. “BlueScope Buildings impressed me with their ability to deliver. They provided the structural steel, plus all the wall cladding and roofing,” said Total Constructions Project Manager, Claus Bredow. “To meet the specific noise reduction requirements of the project, specially roll-formed COLORBOND® steel with a base metal thickness (BMT) of 0.6mm was required, rather than the standard 0.42mm product. On the roof, LYSAGHT KLIP-LOK 700 Hi-STRENGTH® profile was used, also with a 0.6mm BMT.” This is one of the strengths of the BlueScope Buildings approach, the ability to customise components and aspects of the steel to meet specific and highly detailed needs, through the combination of world-leading manufacturing technology, design skills and access to the highest quality raw materials. 26
ANCR SPECIAL FOCUS
The manufacturing facility has a building footprint 115m long x 70m wide, with a 3 degree roof pitch running from the apex to the sides. The roofing was roll-formed on site in continuous lengths of 35m, and installed either side of the apex, which eliminated mid-span joints. The BUTLER® building system was not only able to meet the design criteria, it did so with a substantial saving in steel – from an original architect’s design estimate of 360 tonnes down to 240 tonnes, which represented a significant saving on materials cost. Ways this was achieved included the use of tapered beams cut from steel plate and fabricated on pull-through welding machines, a technique few companies have mastered. This style of fabrication also reduces the intrusion of beams into the finished building. The ease of construction provided by the BUTLER® system also results in considerable savings of time and labour, with all secondary structural members factory punched to ensure a rapid, precision fit on site. Up to two truckloads of steel components were delivered and erected each day. The entire construction at Emu Plains was completed in just over four months, with handover and occupancy achieved over the Christmas break, meaning no disruption to the client’s production schedules. “For a project of this scale, BlueScope Buildings was, without any doubt, the best steel contractor I have worked with in Sydney,” Claus said. BlueScope Buildings t. 1800 213 423 www.bluescopebuildings.com.au AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL CONSTRUCTION REVIEW