Teem members of WebSteel project took a big trip to North America
The WebSteel project team organized a second BIG journey to North America after a car trip to Western Europe in the past year. The main purpose of the trip was an analysis of prefabricated steel buildings in the non-residential construction segment of the North American market. In America, Atlanta was selected as the financial and administrative center in the south of the country. And Montreal and Toronto - as the largest two major cities in Canada. Project participants completed the photo session of steel buildings (warehouses, workshops, supermarkets , manufacturing plants , offices, etc. ) in the main industrial areas in the suburbs of major cities.
Particular attention was drawn to an abundant presence of decorative elements with the rich façade solutions. The framing types and technology are about the same as in Russia and the CIS. Basically, the welded pipes and welded beams are most common with the famous technology – JOIST (strut systems). The cassette walls are highly popular due to its high speed of at-factory construction and transportation to the construction site. This approach is now gaining popularity in Russia especially in the residential segment (residential buildings of LGSF) in the form of light weight load-bearing structures. Among sheathing products the separate sandwich panels are mainly used. In general, non-residential prefabricated buildings are built quickly and easily. During the 3-week stay in North America, the WebSteel project team saw almost the entire construction process of supermarket (700sq.m.) in downtown of Toronto since the beginning of erection to complete commissioning.
