PR 36247
25 March 2014
 
 
 

Harlow Timber Systems wins the 2014 TRA award

 

A challenging building development, with a complex roof using in excess of 1,800 timber trusses from Harlow Timber Systems, has won this year's Trussed Rafter Association (TRA) project award.

Harlow Timber Systems used Wolf Systems' truss design software for the award-winning Broad Meadow project in Dudley. The 132-bed extra care scheme for the over 55's is a flagship venture for Midland Heart, the largest housing and regeneration organisation in the West Midlands. 

The roof was formed using dual, preformed mono-pitched trusses set out in a radial pattern on either side of a 2.5m wide flat roofed corridor which accommodates sun pipes to allow daylight into the accommodation below. The trusses measure 8m and 7.5m respectively from external to internal wall plate; spandrel panels are incorporated alongside party-walls. With the trusses fanning out from 300mm centres on the inner curve to 600mm centres on the outer curve, a key challenge was to bend the bracing to follow the shape of the roof.

The plan of Broad Meadow is circular. A three-storey building, housing one-and two-bedroom apartments, curves to link with communal facilities which include a restaurant, shop and well-being facility. At the centre are landscaped gardens and courtyards. 

Harlow Timber Systems was asked by William Davis, the building contractor for the £16 million scheme, to devise a roof for the apartment building. Working with the engineer BSP Consulting, it was decided at an early stage to span the radii of the roof with timber trusses. 

The external overhang of the eaves was cut short in specific areas allowing raised parapets and inboard gutters to form features of the external elevation. Internally, the top-ends of service risers had to be fitted in between the trusses and other mechanical engineering equipment accommodated.

Humam Sharifi, associate at architect Nicol Thomas Ltd, comments: Timber trusses provided the ideal solution for this project and the trussed rafters were very flexible in responding to the curved roof over variable spans together with its inboard and outboard characteristics. Harlow Timber Systems provided invaluable support and knowledge throughout, particularly in the way they coordinated their design to reflect the combination of a warm roof system with a cold ventilated arrangement.

Although a very unusual design, this roof is not untypical of the sort of structures Harlow Timber Systems undertakes, says David Stockill, MD of Harlow Timber Systems. "We are asked to engineer complex roofs all the time" he says. "On most projects we spend time with the architects and clients to find a cost saving solution, as we did here."

For further information on Harlow Timber Systems, please visitwww.harlowts.co.ukor call 01530 516990 and for Wolf Systems, please visitwww.wolfsystem.co.ukor call 02476 602303.

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With compliments:
Philippa Worley
Taylor Alden
Unit 2 Temple Place
247 The Broadway
London SW19 1SD
Tel: 020 8543 3866
Fax: 020 8543 2841
email:philippa@tayloralden.co.uk
 www.tayloralden.co.uk