industrial profile
SOLAR ENERGY PROJECTS IS NOW ESTABLISHED IN POMONA
Text: Michael Nott; Photos: Structure and Design
olar Energy Projects (SEP) opened their new warehouse in May last year at stand 522, in the rapidly developing Pomona Industrial Park along Harare Drive. The new premises include the huge warehouse space of 1000 sq. m, sales ÂŽ Q
additional 500 sq. m. There’s also a manufacturing section as well as facilities for ongoing research and development.
While Agristructures provided the shell of the building most of the interior finishes were manufactured and installed by SEP. At the reception, SEP have created a whimsical and quirky welcoming desk made from an old decommissioned 300Kw hydro-electric turbine. It has a kind of industrial ‘steam punk’ look but it works well and shows off SEPs’ engineering heritage. It’s certainly unique!
The custom built warehouse, of approximately 1,500 sq. m, was designed by SEP to accommodate their requirements. It was mostly fabricated by local construction company Agristructures. The shell of the building is fairly conventional – there’s a polished concrete floor slab, a glass curtain wall in front with a balcony leading off of the sales Ž Q # with multiple translucent skylights punched through. The walls of the structure are solid brick for the lower section with Chromadek cladding on a steel skeleton above. Large roller shutter doors on both the east and west sides allow for convenient deliveries and despatch. Solar panels, batteries and the related equipment are fairly bulky.
SEP’s engineering and manufacturing departments have also created the steel staircase leading up to the mezzanine floor. The mezzanine is basically a steel frame clad with pine floorboards. SEP designed and manufactured the steel and glass partition walls as well as most of the desks and work stations. A nice detail is the outline of Zimbabwe made from scrap parts in the director’s office. In the training department desks have been made from defunct solar panels. The desks work well, they’re cheaper than buying conventional (and boring) office desks, and there’s a 25 year warranty on the panels! Engineering and manufacturing can be fun too.
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STRUCTURE & DESIGN
