Mezzanine Floors, Pallet Racking systems, Office Partitions - Installers & Suppliers UK

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Case Studes:
Archive Storage

Project: North Tyneside

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Requirements

In the last week of 2005 MEZZ-RACK SYSTEMS was approached by a leading Newcastle upon Tyne firm of solicitors. Having worked with them before we were aware of their drastic need for an archive storage facility. Their problem was that they had archive boxes stored in every spare area - whether it be on the floor or a table top, lift or corridor, the requirement was urgent.

Site Survey

Our client had located premises on the outskirts of the city and requested we do a site survey. On their return (5 days later) from the festive break the facilities manager had on her desk a full proposal with CAD Drawings.

Our design was based on the following parameters.

1. System to accommodate 12,000 archive boxes.
2. Selectivity for each item had to be 100%.
3. Lineal shelf storage was important and to have no wastage.
4. No gaps between shelf and frame for files to fall through.

Design Consultation

We now had to take into consideration Building Regulations requirements for rack over / mezzanine style design which is determined by the size of the raised area. On behalf of the client, we negotiated a design which was acceptable to the council's requirements. To fulfill these requirements we had to include smoke detection, emergency lighting and standard lighting within the design.

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The design concept and contract price was agreed but the client then found a problem with the building walls which needed emergency work. This, however, took time and the contract was put on hold – increasing further the need to build the storage facility as quick as possible. During this period Mezz-Rack Systems undertook further surveys at other sites and produced further drawings at no extra cost to the client. However, we believed the initial building and the designed interior layout was perfect for our client, and they hung on until the refurbishment was finished.

Outcome

10 months later Contracts were now in place and Mezz-Rack Systems had only 6 weeks to install a STORAX 2 tier storage facility for their client and under normal circumstances this would not be a problem.

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Solutions

Due to our client's request for no wastage and no gaps we designed a bespoke MDF lateral tie (Image 7) which required notching around the beam bracket - approx: 2000 in total. This also meant that gaps had to be covered (decking around frames) at the mezzanine floor level. (Image 9 top of stairs). Gaps in the floor would be obvious because the decking is designed to sit on timber joists running across the aisles and through the racks (Image 5), rather than individual walkways. The joists had to be spaced exactly at 600mm centres (Image 3) for the fitting of the 2400mm x 38mm Chipboard Decking Boards. This gives extra strength and stability to the system. Chipboard shelves were precision cut to limit the gap.

Installation

The installation went extremely smoothly with the electricians first on site to install the overhead roof lighting. The racking was completed on time without any snags and mesh panels (Image 8 & 9) were fitted to the exposed perimeter edge of the floor to the full height of the building, we also found time to build a small partitioned office on the lower level. The electricians fitted the final downstairs lighting and smoke detection all completed within the required 6 week period and within budget.

Please refer to our installation section for further information on this project.