Aeroton Roof Jack Project
SAISC PROJECTS
Aeroton Roof Jack Project
“ This Project is an excellent example of how an existing industrial warehouse type structure can be rejuvenated and given a new lease on life in an economical and time effective way .”
The client , Fortress Income Fund , approached L & S Consulting and Quanticost Pretoria in October 2015 to investigate the options to raise the roof of an existing 3 800 square meter warehouse by 4m in order to provide the necessary storage volume for a prospective tenant .
The consultants approached Tass Engineering to provide a price to dismantle the existing roof structure , extend the columns and re-erect the existing structure or to demolish and construct a new structure . Tass Engineering in turn proposed to jack the entire roof in a single lift operation to the required height , with the structure remaining intact including roof sheeting and side cladding . This option was priced with taking the time constraints of the project into consideration and was found to be the most viable solution .
The existing warehouse structure comprises of steel trusses , spaced at 6m centres and spanning 31m , supported in the centre by a lattice girder spanning 24m between columns . The trusses are supported by full height steel columns along the perimeter . The structure is clad with IBR sheeting on the roof and the sides , with monitor frames provided on the roof and clad with translucent sheets .
For this application , steelwork is the ideal material of choice , due to its strength and availability of various section sizes to suit an existing structure ’ s section sizes . This project is an excellent example of how an existing industrial warehouse type structure can be rejuvenated and given a new lease on life in an economical and time effective way .
The existing structure relied on portal framed action to resist the wind loading on the structure . The additional stresses due to the increased wind loading as a result of lifting the roof , exceeded the resistance capacity of the portal action of the structural frame . Also , due to the time constraints , no strengthening of the existing foundations could be considered to resist the increased forces .
Project Team
Client : Fortress Income Fund Architect : O-Inc Structural Engineer : L & S Consulting Quantity Surveyor : Quanticost Pretoria Main Contractor : Abbeydale Steelwork Contractor and Detailer : TASS Engineering P / L Cladding Supplier : Tate & Nicholson Steelwork Erector and System Implementation : IHJ Engineering
A bracing system was designed and installed to resist the increased in-plane forces without having to alter the existing foundations or to strengthen the existing perimeter columns . The increased height of the structure had a negligible additional gravitational loading on the existing foundations .
The innovative lifting operation proved to be a safe , cost effective and time saving solution to alter an existing facility to be suitable for a prospective tenant . Going forward this option should be considered as a viable option to provide increased storage capacity to existing facilities .
16 Steel Construction Vol . 40 No . 3 2016