Steel reinforcement - Snow World

The challenge

Snow World needed to install new industrial cooling plant. The existing structure had never been calculated for it - cooling systems at this scale impose a permanent load the original design didn't anticipate.

Complicating factor: the building stayed operational. Reinforcement had to go in without shutting the business down, which set the phasing and the working hours rather than the other way round.

Our approach

The existing structure was assessed against the new loading, establishing where reinforcement was required and where the existing frame was already adequate.

Steel reinforcement went in in phases, worked around opening hours and the cooling contractor's installation programme. Each phase was closed out to a stable interim state before the next began.

Where new load was introduced at concentrated points, the transfer into the existing primary structure was detailed and executed.

Outcome

The cooling plant sits on a structure calculated to carry it. The building remained operational throughout.

This project is representative of the industrial work we do: existing structures that have to carry more than they were ever designed for, in buildings that can't close.