INCORPORATING COLD CHAIN
FEATURE stores these days to eliminate the associated issues moisture can cause . Panel joints are also important and of course door seals which are often overlooked .
Pressure release valves for cold rooms are also very important but often too are neglected because they carry additional costs . These units equalise the pressure to avoid buckling or in worst case scenarios failure that can be devastating should people be working in such a space .
“ Fire regulation as mentioned already by Willem , is something impacting the entire world in terms of cold storage . Particularly , it ’ s a very sensitive issue in South Africa today because of the dramatic influence this has over an owner ’ s access to insurance for their facilities . The effect is either having an insurance ceiling , or their insurance is extremely high when certain standards are not met . As most re-insurers are linked internationally , they look specifically for fire safety compliance as a requirement .
Larger investors in this market are put in a difficult position because they cannot procure locally-manufactured goods because none of the products currently meet approval in terms of the insurance needs and this is a big danger for the local economy . The conundrum here is that if you want fire rated approval the entire system needs to be approved and not individual components , which insurers are specifying . One particular example
is that any insulated panel needs to be structurally sound for a certain timeframe , so that should an incident occur , occupants have sufficient time to exit the facility . However , another important aspect in this regulation is that the roof too ( which is insulated panelling ) must be installed by being directly connected to the steel structure , but in reality , this doesn ’ t happen . So , what this actually comes down to is that it does not matter where the panels come from – or their rating , when not installed correctly as we see on so many site . We need to remember that people ’ s perception is what drives trends . Incomplete or inaccurate information equals bad choices which has a direct impact on the overall industry that supports many thousands of jobs ,” says Zwick .
TRENDS , SUGGESTIONS , AND THOUGHTS ON TECHNOLOGY
Cold store construction trends today have primarily seen a shift towards highdensity warehouses . Obviously , land is extremely expensive , and then the relationship between height and footprint comes into play .
Schoeman notes , “ Utilising automation in these facilities with robotics and shuttles has become topical and everyone is also starting to look at fire resistant panels in compliance with health and safety but also because insurance cover is becoming more stringent as Ari has mentioned . With high density facilities customers are starting to move towards implementing mobile racking systems which have their own challenges because you have to have a specifically constructed floor with the railing inset , and these foundations are naturally more costly , but the plus is a better yield per m 2 . Traditionally you would have a storage exposure of 50-60 % but this particular mobile rack solution allows a much greater capacity . Systems and solutions are generally improving day to day . Automation on many levels is easily possible today .”
Retrofits are another process that has seen a lot of activity as old buildings are repurposed , or older facilities are upgraded , still keeping some of the structure and componentry . However , retrofitting has its setbacks because they usually have various elements of difficulty and at the end of the day may cost more than anticipated . New design principles in this element identify a buildings suitability by looking at process flows , and operational areas required and if a separate cold room structure can be ‘ fitted ’ to the building from the side or in the middle . This is probably the best retrofit solution that you can get today through the combination method of new and old structures .
“ The other things that are trending in cold store construction projects are things like automated lighting systems and new structural processes – anything in automation and to assist in energy savings ,” Schoeman notes further .
“ Refrigeration , which as we see is the biggest component of these facilities
Tracks for mobile racks are installed into the foundation work .
A prepped and ready floor is waiting to receive concrete . Here the vapour barrier is laid with mobile racking tracks installed and re-enforcing for the many tons of produce to be stored .
hasn ’ t really changed that much , simply because the basic principles have remained the same , but to just add to what Willem has said , the reason why I think companies are moving to high density solutions is because the higher you build versus the floorspace you have , the less energy it also requires . From an energy design perspective , you save by having a smaller footprint and taller structure . The only area you are then adding heat that comes into the system is on the sidewalls – the rest stays the same . The roof area is the same and the floor area is the same . The walls in these facilities are minor factors from an energy perspective so it just makes sense both from a cost point of view and landutilisation point of view ,” says Kriel .
The idea of not having any humanproduct interfaces is something that is also becoming more and more important in these types of facilities , locally and international where various levels of automation are already a reality . Accidents and errors are caused by people and some research suggests that this figure can be as high as 90 % of incidents .
An operator for example drives a forklift into a door - this now creates the environment for moisture ingress that will cause problems in time . An employee will forget to close a door or doesn ’ t close the doors because of comfort issues because they don ’ t understand the functionality of the refrigeration process . These seemingly silly things make a big difference . However , given that South Africa does have different dynamics compared to the rest of the world because here we have much cheaper labour where in other countries labour cost is expensive , our model drives us to have more human interfaces , but statistics show that you pay so much more in terms of factors linked directly to human activity and behaviour such as damage , neglect , maintenance and so forth .
“ On the energy side one should never consider building a cold store without a solar PV system included on the roof – adding one of these systems is going to be cheaper than any energy that you buy from any supplier in South Africa . We also know that generally for the roof area that we have to work with , the amount of energy that you can generate
COLD LINK AFRICA • March / April 2021 www . coldlinkafrica . co . za 33