Case Studies

Raising the Roof at Erskine 2000

To us, size doesn't matter - we can deliver whatever the size of order, however complex the project.

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One of our largest orders was for the West of Scotland when we were asked to supply roof trusses for a new hospital complex in Erskine. The order - substantial by anyone's reckoning - was for 1100 roof trusses to the value of £100,000. But that was not all - we were also asked to provide other building material for the new development.

The hospital, predominantly for the care of the elderly, the war-wounded and veterans, comprises five blocks. But size made no difference to us. It was the design of the roofs that provided an interesting challenge because:

• The order comprised principal roof trusses requiring a large span of 13.56m
• The complex nature of the buildings resulted in differing roof heights with a selection of valleys and awkward corners

The solution was for most of the trusses to be made to precise specifications at our headquarters in Fife. Some of the most complex components, however, were put together on site.

Major investors in technology

Another interesting challenge for this project was the method of transportation of the roof trusses from Fife. Such was their size that the entire timber shipment needed to be transported on specially hired extendible trailers. Again, size was no problem for us and the trailers were leased directly from our own haulier. We also supplied other building material, including infill timbers, metalwork, truss shoes and clips.

The design concept for the roof was produced by BDP Architects, and the engineers were Halcrow Crouch. Using our sophisticated MiTek software,we executed the detailed design, and provided the engineered product.