St Lukes School
Pupils at St. Lukes School in Portsmouth have started their year with a new curved
school roof thanks to a lattice over-roof structure manufactured by the UK's largest
specialist cold roll-forming company, Metsec, installed by Wellow Developments.
The felt weathering course on the original flat roof of the school was coming to the end of its original design life and the decision was taken to install a large curved over-roof on the existing building to provide a new, modern feel to the building without the need for major structural works.
Working with the contractor, Wellow Developments, Metsec supplied 11 trusses in total for the new roof - mostly spanning 12.56m. Each truss is approximately 2.8m deep at mid-span and was fabricated with a faceted top chord member. Variable height purlin cleats were then welded to the top chord in the correct positions to provide the finished curved roof structure. In this way a curved roof profile was achieved at a far lower weight than if using hot rolled sections.
In addition to the lattice beams, almost 600m of zed purlins were also supplied by Metsec to support the roof sheeting and side-rails with appropriate accessories were attached to the gable trusses to support the horizontal spanning cladding. This "cross divisional" approach highlights the advantage of working with a manufacturer such as Metsec who can design and supply a complete package to the contractor.
Darren Bird, General Manager for Beams at Metsec said: "The use of lightweight steellattice beams and purlins enabled us to minimise the imposed load on the existing structure, whilst the pre-engineered off-site method of fabrication for the new structure allowed for a short erection time ensuring that any potential disruption to the school was minimised.
All of the materials for the new roof structure were supplied with a galvanised finish to offer better long-term corrosion resistance and to ensure that the new roof will remain in service for many years to come.
Click Here to go back to Education
The felt weathering course on the original flat roof of the school was coming to the end of its original design life and the decision was taken to install a large curved over-roof on the existing building to provide a new, modern feel to the building without the need for major structural works.
Working with the contractor, Wellow Developments, Metsec supplied 11 trusses in total for the new roof - mostly spanning 12.56m. Each truss is approximately 2.8m deep at mid-span and was fabricated with a faceted top chord member. Variable height purlin cleats were then welded to the top chord in the correct positions to provide the finished curved roof structure. In this way a curved roof profile was achieved at a far lower weight than if using hot rolled sections.
In addition to the lattice beams, almost 600m of zed purlins were also supplied by Metsec to support the roof sheeting and side-rails with appropriate accessories were attached to the gable trusses to support the horizontal spanning cladding. This "cross divisional" approach highlights the advantage of working with a manufacturer such as Metsec who can design and supply a complete package to the contractor.
Darren Bird, General Manager for Beams at Metsec said: "The use of lightweight steellattice beams and purlins enabled us to minimise the imposed load on the existing structure, whilst the pre-engineered off-site method of fabrication for the new structure allowed for a short erection time ensuring that any potential disruption to the school was minimised.
All of the materials for the new roof structure were supplied with a galvanised finish to offer better long-term corrosion resistance and to ensure that the new roof will remain in service for many years to come.
Click Here to go back to Education