STEEL AWARDS
As a result, the UCL Fruit Packing Facility was named the 2025 Steel Awards Regional Winner: KwaZulu-Natal.
The client required a greenfield, fit-for-purpose fruit packaging facility to accommodate both avocado and kiwi fruit on a single site, with separate handling and refrigeration protocols.
The site is next to their operational sugar mill on a steeply sloping terrain, which required linking to the existing internal road network for delivery and dispatch.
Professional team
Client:
UCL Company Architect: Bespoke Agri-tects( Division of Bespoke Architects) Principal agent / consultants: Quantity surveyor: Packling consultant: Civil engineer:
Feroqs Consult Feroqs Consult Packline Solutions Kantey & Templar
Project background and design response
All services essential for the operation of the pack house needed to be provided on site, including plant, equipment, support services, staff amenities, office space, and storage. A primary goal in the design brief was to develop a building that could process the specified volumes as efficiently as possible. Consequently, the building ' s purpose influences its form. Structural framing was accomplished by using short concrete stubs to accommodate HD bolts and secure reinforcement anchorage into the raft foundation system.
From the HD bolts as anchors, structural steel columns, some requiring lateral restraints, were used to support a trussed system that was perpendicular to internal girders. Moments caused by self-weight or wind actions were transferred through the column to the truss connections.
Structural engineer: Electrical engineer: Fire engineer: Building contractor: Structural steel contractor: Refrigeration contractor: Roofing contractor: Fire contractor: Packline equipment:
Stance Consulting CPP Marepo ASP Fire Robertson & Poole Construction NJW Engineering ES Engineering MJC Industrial FireCo Tomra / Masgcor / Gossamer
“ The cost per area ratio for this building type made steel the only available material to achieve the functional requirements thereof feasibly. The long span to weight / cost ratio allows for flexibility in design and spatial requirements to accommodate the small tolerances which the equipment requires”, commented the panel.
Read our headline article on this project in the June edition of To Build: https:// bit. ly / 3XaRbGx
44 summer 2025-26 | www. tobuild. co. za