October 2020

12 Buckden Roundabout October 2020 African Orphanage An Orphanage School in Africa by Keith Lawrence, Buckden resident Parts 1 and 2 were published in the on - line August edition of the Buckden Roundabout. Go here to read them: https://tinyurl.com/yy6q4vue Part 3 was published in the printed September edition of the Buckden Roundabout and is also available online here: https://tinyurl.com/y643lorj Part 4. Construction (cont ’ d) The Classrooms Block With clear span internal dimensions for the classrooms of 5.5m x 7.5m traditional construction would not be appropriate. Classrooms require a heavy design floor loading, twice that of domestic flooring, and an engineered solution would be essen- tial At the same time transportation from UK and on to site really demanded that all elements of the construction could be man - handled without mechanical lifting equipment, and that site assembly would need to be easily understood and managed by local construction personnel. A unique system of creating a rigid framed structure through an assembly of small manageable components was adopted. The system, based on the use of standard structural compo- nents utilised in the pallet racking industry, enables rapid train- ing of operatives with no previous experience in the system, and due to the close tolerances of the pre - manufactured com- ponents, achieves a high level of dimensional accuracy in the completed construction. Every single element of the structural framework for this 2 storey building was lifted into position manually. The robust and stable steel framework for the com- plete 6 classroom building was erected rapidly, over a 5 week period, by a team of operatives under Daniel ’ s supervision. Neither Daniel nor his operatives had seen the system before, and they quickly became confident and enthusiastic in its use. Photographs below show stages of the steel framework under construction, and the finished framework. This was completed through December 2019 and into January 2020. Pre - assembly of components - on prepared ground slab Pre - assembly of components - inside the Admin block lobby Pre - assembled frames are erected and rigidly joined together with standard pre - manufactured beams. The beams are man- ufactured in a range of lengths to give flexibility in the spacing of the vertical load bearing frames. Diagonal bracing is introduced where necessary, to enhance overall stability, and pre - assembled roof trusses and purlins are then lifted into position. The external blockwork will be rendered and painted and the external access ramps and stairs will then be added. Occupa- tion of the classrooms will be available by the autumn of this year (2020). All the steelwork for this building was shipped to the site from the UK in one single 20 ft shipping container. No single compo- nent, prior to assembly, was longer than 5m. Every component could be handled by a single individual.