Warehouse Efficiency Extends To The Purlins

LYSAGHT® SupaPurlins were part of the roof design solution for a new Metcash MegaCentre distribution facility at Crestmead in Brisbane's south.

Development of the distribution centre for the grocery wholesaler involved the addition of more than 58,000 square metres of warehouse space to an existing facility leased from the Macquarie Goodman Group.

Macquarie Goodman organised the expansion project which was delivered by Buildcorp under a design and construct contract.

Metcash is using advanced warehouse technology and supply chain initiatives to deliver efficiencies for its 10,000 independent retailer customers.

It has also stolen a march on competitors by using large composite MegaCentre distribution facilities to store liquor as well as freezer, chiller and dry goods on one site.

Structural engineering services for the MegaCentre at Crestmead were provided by Taylor Thomson Whitting (TTW) in conjunction with Martin Cosgrove and Associates (MCA).

TTW undertook the concrete and civil works, with MCA providing steelwork and construction phase services.

"The existing distribution building used by Metcash was 100 metres long by 150 metres wide," MCA Design Engineer, Jildo Bernard, said.

"We added a new area which is typically 300 metres by 150 metres and has 25 metre wide canopies at each side.

"The structural engineering challenges on the project arose from the need to deliver an economical solution for an area with large spans brought about by a 12.35 metre grid."

"The decision to look at the possibility of using LYSAGHT SupaZed® purlins was taken very early in the project after discussions with Buildcorp."

"Because of the nature of the building there were some significant local loadings imposed on the roof structure by fire services."

"Using LYSAGHT SupaZed® 300 purlins gave us a reserve of capacity to deal with those loadings without having to go the extra cost of a larger purlin size."

"We were also able to achieve greater purlin spacings than would have been possible with conventional purlins. We ran our design through BlueScope Lysaght's specialist software and the whole process was very straight forward."

Ahrens M&S, one of Queensland's oldest and most respected service providers in the construction and steel fabrication market, fabricated and erected the steel framework and purlins for the new building for construction contractor, Buildcorp.

With over sixty years experience in the supply of fabricated steel for large buildings and projects throughout Brisbane, Central and Far North Queensland and the Northern Territory including the mining and mineral processing, Ahrens M&S is well placed to comment.

"We've been very happy with the SupaPurlins and the bridging system provided by BlueScope Lysaght," Ahrens M&S Project Manager, Roger Porter, said. "Our riggers have worked with them before and they know how to get the best out of them."

"The problems in purlins are normally in the detailing. If the detail is wrong that can be a big problem. It gets down to tolerances and angles and the quality of the roll former. You need a consistent product so that the purlins will lap together."

"On the Metcash job, my observation and the reports from the riggers indicate that the quality and accuracy of the LYSAGHT® SupaPurlins has been of a very good standard. We were dealing with 13.5 to 14 metre lengths of SupaPurlins and girts, all in 300mm size but with various gauges. That has meant crane lifting each time, but it hasn’t caused problems."

"Through our drafting department we were able to co-ordinate the packaging and bundling with BlueScope Lysaght. It has worked very well to achieve efficient handling."

"In terms of BlueScope Lysaght's service, they fitted in with our needs. The material all turned up on time and it went together without any problems."

LYSAGHT® SupaPurlin are available in SupaCee® and SupaZed® configurations. Both types feature longitudinal web stiffeners, which considerably improve their performance and allow longer spans.

The innovative LYSAGHT® SupaPurlin design allows increased spacing and fewer rows of bridging, for maximum cost efficiency. It also provides extra strength without a weight penalty.

LYSAGHT® SupaPurlins are manufactured on state of the art equipment and are offered on a project by project basis with full technical support. Support includes sophisticated new software to help customers to optimise designs to take advantage of the LYSAGHT® SupaPurlin specification.

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