light steel frame building light steel frame building - Southern African ...

CATEGORY WINNER
STEEL AWARDS 2010
WINNER: LIGHT
STEEL FRAME
BUILDING
Sponsored by the NJR Steel
ZAMBESI RETAIL
MALL EXTENSIONS
The main contractor confirms:
“this project could not have been
completed in any other way – the low
mass and excellent acoustic
insulation made light steel framing
the only possible solution.”
64 Steel Construction Vol. 34 No. 5 September 2010
During the past two years light steel frame building has come to the fore and was
showcased in Steel Awards 2008 and 2009. In both instances the prizes went to
houses. The construction industry has, however, since discovered that this form of
construction can be used for many other applications as seen in many of the 2010
LSFB entries.
One of these applications, used to great effect, was the extension of a shopping
mall. Lightweight steel’s long roof span capabilities as well as its use in the
construction of high walls for the cinema walls including the internal walls with
their exacting acoustic requirements just showed the potential of LSFB. The winner
in the light steel frame category – the Zambezi Mall – is a good example of this
application.
THE LIGHTWEIGHT STEEL ROOF STRUCTURE
At the time this roof was supplied and erected, it was the biggest lightweight steel
roof in South Africa: A total of 7 700m2 including overhangs. The sheer size of this
roof and the three separate roofs spanning between 7.5m up to a maximum of
30m clear covering an area of 7 200m2 already make this an interesting project.
The northern portion of the roof had to cover a cinema area, and was supported
on 12m high concrete columns along the northern edge. The columns were fixed
to the concrete supporting slab and columns below. The columns were stabilised
by applying a 5kN tensioning force through the tie beams of each of the lightweight
steel trusses.