Warehouses
General Warehouses : 2016 to 2024
Structural Engineer: Paterdis
Brisbane and its surrounds have experienced rapid development within the Industrial sector. Paterdis is continually engaged by a number of clients to deliver large and unique warehouse spaces and often custom built for the end user.
Some significant completed warehouse structures include:
A large food processing facility with a 2600 square meter concrete composite suspended floor.
A 7,000 square meter facility divided into 7 column free tenancies.
A 12,000 square meter facility divided into 12 column free tenancies.
A 13-meter-high tilt-panel manufacturing facility with significant suspended office space
A 47 meter long and 27-meter-wide clear spanning warehouse with the roof falling in the 47-meter direction.
Development of a generic warehouse solution incorporating precast suspended floor elements cast and installed at the same time as the structure’s vertical tilt-panel walls.
A 125 meter long portal framed warehouse structure with a 600-tonne water tank on a suspended concrete ground slab.
A 12,000 square meter warehouse divided into 20 unique units.
A 35-meter clear span warehouse constructed from lightweight trusses.
The Challenge
Land is becoming scarce and more valuable. The result is an increase in demand for taller warehouses for greater storage volumes. Tilt-up panel construction is preferred given the inherit qualities like security, durability, insulation, fire protection and aesthetics. As warehouses get taller, the structural demands on the tilt-panels increase significantly.
Warehouses often require forklift operations. Warehouse occupiers need flexibility within the spaces. Internal columns always pose a collision risk for forklift operations. Internal columns also limit the final use flexibility of the space.
Skilled labour shortages and rising construction costs are challenging conventional construction systems.
The outcome
Paterdis is constantly striving to improve on warehouse designs to achieve efficient, robust and easy to build structures:
Composite steel and concrete systems for suspended floors. These systems offer larger spans, significantly speed up construction and reduce the number of different trades required to achieve a robust suspended concrete floor. Formwork trades are removed by using permanent structural steel decking that serves as floor reinforcing.
Simple mesh reinforcing with thin concrete topping slabs remove the reliance on skilled steel fixers. Steel support beams are fabricated and installed by the same trades that complete the roof structure. Steel is fabricated off site whilst the foundation and tilt-panel works are progressing on site.Two-way roof systems with unique roof bracing configurations. Roof bracing is used to stabilise the roof members and to also provide a load path for lateral wind and earthquake loads. These systems are achieving large column free spaces.
Whilst the roof systems are initially more expensive, having no internal columns is proving much more valuable.Fibre concrete reinforced footings are removing the lead time associated with fabricated reinforcing cages and skilled labour to supply and install.
Suspended precast floor elements cast on site with the tilt-panels and installed at the same time as the tilt-panel walls is a solution that Paterdis is continually refining.
Tilt panel walls designed to retain soil rather than building a separate retaining wall structure is providing obvious benefits.
