Housing in Southern Africa July 2015

Roofing, Ceilings, Insulation & Cladding

Riversands Incubation Hub

T he 17 500m² hub includes a self- contained training centre, four small factories, educational fa- cilities, kitchens, bathrooms etc. The main contractor GD Irons awarded the contract for roofing to Max-Span Roofing who specified MiTek Ultra- Span system. Structural engineer, CassieGrobler in consulation with MiTek, provided the initial design and cost estimates as well as providing various roofing design options. Uwe Schluter, Busi- ness Development Manager of MiTek says that most of this project was indeed done with Ultra-Span LGS trusses even though some large BC loadings (steel with cross sectional areas) were applied to cater for future applications, representing 17 500m 2 of area (or approx. 78% of the total) with the balance being done in mild steel structures. The Light Gauge Steel (LGS) Ultra- Span structures achieved a very respectable low mass of only 6.3kg/ m2 of roof area. It is this low weight of the Ultra-Span roof structure that enabled substantial savings to be realised on thewhole project through support structure savings, as well as installation time savings although no cranes were required during any of the LGS roof erection phases. Schluter explained that the roof structure was rolled out in phases. It could have been completed even quicker had the building work been able to keep up with this pace. “The Ultra-Span roof structure greatly as- sisted with the overall timing of the project being kept on track. Initially a crew of 14 workers assembled the trusses and roof erection work, but during the last two months of the project as building work completion increased, an additional six-man team was added to the roof erection team. A further advantage that the Ultra- Span system provided Max-Span Roofing (LGS assembly and installa- tion contractor), is that it was pos- sible to utilise the existing ordered materials with some very small modifications. On some blocks, the building dimensions differed fromthe original plans as well as the addition of extra point loads on the BC of some of the trusses – even though none of these were originally designed or manufactured for this.

The Riversands Incubation Hub is one of the largest roofing projects undertaken using Light Gauge Steel construction.

This feature of Ultra-Span is possible due to the fact that the materials are not pre-punched (for joint connec- tions) and therefore allow the free- dom for some length adjustment as well as the simple insertion of splices should this be required. Likewise, the extra point loads on the BC of some of the trusseswas easily accommodated by the addition of some extra screws or where a different web size was required. All of the above steps were obviously taken after full re-analysis of the effected trusses. Schluter says that although this particular roof structure is not re- ally complicated or unusual, it is still one of the largest single project roof

structures done in LGS, with all par- ties involved being totally happy with the overall result. Schluter says: “With amanufactur- ing facility in Gauteng and regional offices in Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Durban, MiTek is best placed to supply the building industry with the widest range of timber connectors for both roof truss manufacturers and retail stores. Our expertise lies in three areas, our integrated software packages, our fully designed builders’ products that are manufactured in accordance with Dekra ISO9001:2008 certification specifications and our people, many of whom have been with MiTek for more than 25 years.” ■

July 2015