Britain's best source of building product & construction news

When fire destroyed the famous 007 stage at the Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire in July 2006, the pressure was really on to rebuild it in time to meet the tight filming schedules for the feature film production of ‘Mamma Mia!’. Fast and accurate fabrication of Metsec light gauge galvanised steel purlins played a key part in getting everything completed on time. Bourne Steel, the structural steel contractors for the rebuild project, were allowed only sixteen weeks from design to completion. Half of this demanding timescale was needed to carry out the off-site manufacturing programme including design detailing, fabrication, painting and delivery. With trusses weighing in at 26.5 tonnes, complicated lifting operations were needed to work around the underwater tank in the centre of the site - the biggest in Europe, and originally built to hold three submarines in The Spy Who Loved Me. Purlins and side rails were specified to connect the rafters and columns of the main steel structure, provide a security restraint, and support the steel cladding on the walls.

Steel purlins from metsec have been used to create the external shell of the Chill Factor - the UK’s longest and the world’s widest real snow indoor ski slope. In constructing the design, 116 tonnes of Metsec’s light gauge galvanised steel Z-section purlins and C-section rails were used to provide the framework for the external cladding, ensuring class-leading strength to weight ratios. The low internal temperatures of the centre meant that the steelwork had to be correctly insulated to prevent condensation and corrosion. In addition, the slope had to be created with only one support for the upslope overhang. Metspec design software was used to evaluate the loadings, and calculate different cladding requirements.

Cold roll-forming specialist Metsec has supplied 32 long span, lightweight steel trusses, plus zed purlins and 'C' sections to support the roof of a curved riverside development in Chelmsford. The crescent-shaped roof was complicated to design as the hipped ends and valleys were not square, so the trusses and purlins needed to be set out to fit around a radius. The trusses were designed to be light weight, high strength and to have a long span.

Light gauge, galvanised steel framing from Metsec has been supplied as infill walling on an extension for The Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust. 200mm sections were used to close in the structural columns of hot rolled steel to form a straight wall on the 7500m? three storey building.

This product appeared in Building Products more than 12 months ago. Please contact Metsec directly for further details.

Minimising weight whilst maximising usable floorspace, Metsec's tallest Metframe light gauge steel-framed building has been constructed in London. The system's design, suspending joisted floor cassettes between loadbearing steel-frame wall heads, eliminates the need for downstands within the floor support structures. The company supplied 180 tonnes of light gauge steel sections for the superstructure, pre-fabricated into Metframe wall panels.

This product appeared in Building Products more than 12 months ago. Please contact Metsec directly for further details.

Zed purlins and infill walling from Metsec have been supplied for the new Barnsley Transport Interchange project. The company supplied 22 tonnes of 142mm deep zed purlins to act as a fixing for the boarding to create a curved shape to the exterior. Fixed, light gauge galvanised steel framing from Metsec was also specified as infill walling on the retail/office part of the project. Some 1800m of 150mm SFS sections form the infill.

This product appeared in Building Products more than 12 months ago. Please contact Metsec directly for further details.

Lattice beams from Metsec have been supplied for a mezzanine floor and framing for internal walls at a distribution centre. Some 99 lattice joints, carrying a dead load of 1.0 kN/m? and an imposed dead load of 3.5 kN/m? have been installed. The lightweight and long spanning joists range from 1300mm by 17.3m to 450mm by 4m. Wall elements included Metsec SFS site fixed light gauge steel track, and stud sections were used to create a 265m long supporting wall.

This product appeared in Building Products more than 12 months ago. Please contact Metsec directly for further details.

Light gauge galvanised steel framing from Metsec's SFS range has been specified as infill walling for the buildings of a new learning campus in South Shields. The company supplied 4850m? of 150mm thick SFS stud, head, and base track sections to infill a hot rolled steel frame. It also had to accommodate 260 windows and provide lateral support to the external cladding of brick, render and laminate board.

This product appeared in Building Products more than 12 months ago. Please contact Metsec directly for further details.

Long span, curved, lightweight steel lattice trusses from Metsec's lattice joists division, have been used to support the roof covering a new medical centre in Kent. The trusses' strength to weight ratio allowed restrictions on the ridge height of the two storey, 580m, L-shaped building to be overcome. Lattice joists from the company were specified due to their light weight and shallowness at the eaves.

This product appeared in Building Products more than 12 months ago. Please contact Metsec directly for further details.

Some 12000m? of Metsec infill walling has been used as an efficient and lightweight way to enclose Berkeley Homes' Devonshire Court development of luxury apartments at Eastborne, the company claims. The company's SFS site fix light gauge framing system provided the infill between the main concrete frame members to create 89 two- and three-bed apartments. Erected in 30 weeks by BR Hodgson, SFS was specified as the quickest way to achieve early dry envelope on the 64 week construction programme. The 150mm steel stud and track sections were delivered as cut to length components and screwed together on site. Repeatability of the cold roll-formed sections enabled fast installation of the infill walling and ensured accurate setting out and lining up of the bay windows.

This product appeared in Building Products more than 12 months ago. Please contact Metsec directly for further details.

Light gauge galvanised steel zed roof purlins by Metsec have been specified for the Brigg County Primary School project. The company used its MetSPEC 9 building shell design software to identify a solution to support a combination of green 'sedum' roofing with Cambrian Slate. A sleeved system of 262mm and 302mm deep zed purlins, spanning up to 10m and spaced at 1.2m centres, were utilised to support a dead load of 0.82kN/m? for the sedum elements of the roof. Struts were used to offer lateral restraint.

This product appeared in Building Products more than 12 months ago. Please contact Metsec directly for further details.

Light gauge galvanised steel zed purlins from Metsec have been used on the ICT centre at the Portland College for the Disabled. The complex building shape has more than half a dozen roof shapes and set outs of various dimensions, requiring a single span purlin layout. It was designed to cope with wind uplift loadings of 1.1kN/m? and the sections were delivered with individual markings for simple erection.

This product appeared in Building Products more than 12 months ago. Please contact Metsec directly for further details.

Lightweight steel lattice joints from Metsec are supporting the 'green' roof of the new Solihull Centre for Inclusive Learning, which will provide facilties for children with special needs. The 2,500m? two-storey building was designed with a SarnaVert green roofing system for aesthetics and to reduce environmental impact. Some 130 lightweight Metsec parallel joists are directly supporting a structural metal deck fixed to the top chord. The remainder of the roof covering is formed from a vapour control layer, thermal insulation, a waterproof membrane plus a soil and sedum based planting.

This product appeared in Building Products more than 12 months ago. Please contact Metsec directly for further details.

Part of a steelwork package for the first of two new style, flat roof Aldi supermarkets in the UK, Metsec has supplied 17m span lightweight lattice trusses. Some 686m of the company?s tapered trusses cover the 500m² virtually flat roofs of the two stores. They had a 1.5 degree taper, were 650mm deep at the shallow end and were supplied in one length to speed up erection times.

This product appeared in Building Products more than 12 months ago. Please contact Metsec directly for further details.

Some 41 tonnes of light gauge steel zed purlins have been supplied by Metsec for the roof of the new OCS stand at the Brit Oval cricket ground in south London. Structural challenges included curvature in three directions and the design meant that each purlin and anti-sag rod were of different lengths. Due to this variation, the anti-sag rods were fabricated on site.

This product appeared in Building Products more than 12 months ago. Please contact Metsec directly for further details.

Lightweight steel lattice joists are providing long span support on a multi-valleyed roof at an RAF training facility in the Midlands. Metsec has supplied 230m of pitched and parallel trusses in a variety of sizes to form a double, pyramid shaped, hip and valley roof over a new two storey block on the airbase. Half of the order was taken up by the seven largest trusses, each 2.6m deep with a 16.5m span. The remaining 114m were various profiles infill lattice trusses. Metsec and Midland Erection, the steelwork fabricator for the project, collaborated over the design and detailing for the roof. Midland Erection devised a Stru- CAD grid and steel frame model of the basic set out of the building. Metsec?s engineers then designed the trusses and the bracings and connection details for the zed purlins.

This product appeared in Building Products more than 12 months ago. Please contact Metsec directly for further details.

Some 200 tonnes of light gauge, galvanised steel zed purlins and side rails have been supplied by Metsec for the ?54m Arena Coventry project. The cold roll-formed sections, ranging from 142mm to 342mm in depth, support the roof and wall cladding. The company?s Zed duct has also been installed on the roof to deter birds.

This product appeared in Building Products more than 12 months ago. Please contact Metsec directly for further details.

Using a cradle support system of Metsec steel lattice beams and inflated tubing has proved a cost effective alternative to replacing deflected flat roofs on a number of schools in the south east. The roof cradle system acts as a supporting sub-grid for the RAAC planks, avoiding the need to re-roof.

This product appeared in Building Products more than 12 months ago. Please contact Metsec directly for further details.