Global Roofing Solutions Overcomes Challenges in Campus Square Extension

Campus Square is a convenience centre situated on the corner of Kingsway and University Road, Melville. Anchor tenants include Pick ‘n Pay, Woolworths and a new Dischem, while the restaurant offering includes an upgraded Dros, RoccoMamas, enlarged Wimpy and a new Nandos. The Centre offers food, shopping, and convenience all under one roof and it is loyally frequented by students of the nearby University of Johannesburg.

The centre was recently extended and the brief to the architect was to create a very lightweight steel roof, with sidelights facing south to avoid heat gain. A curved aspect was required on the sidelights to create a unique appearance.

The extension of Campus Square was envisaged in steel from the start. Structural steel trusses (consisting of angles) at an average depth of 1m were used to span between 12 – 25m. I-beams were used where the roof span was less than 12m.

When tying into an existing building, there are usually unforeseen challenges that arise. With the extension of Campus Square, the existing building dimensions were not exact and the on-site dimensions weren’t measured prior to fabrication, which lead to the design team requiring additional brackets that had to be designed to enable the elements to span from column to column.

Another challenge that arose was that the designed steel members weren’t always available when they were needed, which delayed the construction process. To overcome this challenge and meet the deadline, a similar sized element was then identified and specified for the project.

A further challenge was dispensing of water off the existing roof which had a large number of steps and angles, together with a new roof which was higher. A large concrete gutter was then created between the two roofs, which in turn was used to support the steel structure.

The roof is undoubtedly an innovative aspect of the project. The roof was designed according to the minimum requirements as specified by the code, which resulted in a very light weight roof. Klip Lok 700 by Global Roofing Solutions was specified for the 8 000m 2 roof.

Fortnightly meetings were held where the professional team and contractor would discuss issues, progress and the program to ensure the project ran smoothly. The end result is a successful extension of a widely popular convenience centre in Johannesburg.