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SASFA
SUPPLEMENT
2017
28
Audi’s new showroom in East London, part of
a roll-out of new Audi showrooms worldwide,
won the Light Steel Frame Building (LSFB)
category at Steel Awards 2013.
This was a top-endmotor showroom, which
was certainly a departure from the norm and
certainly required closer inspection. It came
through with flying colours demonstrating
the unique attributes of LSFB. In this case –
instead of straight and square lines, we were
treated to dramatic curves that illustrated the
versatility of the product,” he said.
As expected, the interior of an upmarket
car showroom must be unique and classy to,
after all, show off one of the most respected
German-made car brands. The client wanted
curved walls and bulkheads to get the right
effect and usually this would have been
done in concrete. But, as with most retail and
commercial projects, time is money and the
LSFB method was the perfect solution given
this scenario.
The LSFB contractor responsible for the
interior curved walls, bulkheads, skimmed
ceilings and metal pan ceilings said that this
project – entailing three curved walls at a 60
degree incline – was one of its most technical
and challenging projects in 20 years pushing
its design and fitting teams to new heights.
Light steel frame wall beams formed the
sub structure for the curved walls which were
then double cladded with full skim finish. Very
technical detailingwas involvedwith junctions
to different areas and curves needing some
custom-made solutions.
Due to the very tight project programme as
well as the size and height of the curved walls,
the LSFBmethodwas the perfect system to use
in place of standard dry-walling. Furthermore
the use of pre-assembled structural beams and
joists allowed for very quick on-site erection
of curved walls with the added advantage of
consistent sizes and accuracy.
Themajority of steel wall joists were erected
in the first two weeks on site. The contractor
also used the speed of LSFB to avoid high
accommodation and transport costs since the
site was 600 km away from their offices and
workshop, which are in Pietermaritzburg.
EXCELLENCE
NTT AUDI NEW SHOWROOM
20
13