NO ANGLE TOO HARD!

Most platforms that we install are on roofs with a pitch of between 1-5 degrees. It is not often that we are confronted by an acute 20-degree pitch like this building at Watsonia outside Melbourne.

The entire roof structure was steeply angled making it a challenge to position the necessary HVAC&R system for the comfort of the buildings' occupants. The project called for a 8400 x 3600mm surface mounted steel platform to be erected with a visual barrier around it.

Due to the roof angle, we knew that this would require support trusses measuring at least 1500mm high on their lowest side.

The Con-form Group© engineering team calculated the live load rating (2.5 kPa), angles, weight of the platform and other data in order to come up with a customised solution. The triangular support structure utilised a super-lightweight frame weighing just 16kg per square metre. The trusses - mounted over the purlins - were spaced 1200mm apart to provide maximum load bearing. They were designed to spread any load placed upon them across the full span of the platform. A C-shaped steel purlin was incorporated as an additional cross support member due to the height of the truss.

Next came the visual barrier: an attractively coloured ClassicScreen featuring a 15mm gap between each slat to allow air to flow through to the HVAC&R machinery.

Installation of the platform and screen was made easier by the fact that the parts arrived as a flat-pack which could be bolted together. They had been pre-assembled at the Con-form Manufacturing Centre of Excellence. No need for welding, cutting parts to size or cutting into the roof.

Con-form Group provides a 25 year warranty for all of our steel products.