Comercial Building – ABB Investments
Structural rehabilitation and retrofitting
Rehabilitation and Extension of a building for commertial use
This project, located in the Belgian city of Ghent, was carried out in collaboration with private client, a Belgian investor who owns the building, and the cold-formed steel manufacturer and steel frames vendor, Besteel.
This Project consists of the structural rehabilitation of an original building of 3 levels, in which a large surface for commercial use was projected on the ground and first floors. In order to perform this transformation, the structural scheme of the building was changed introducing structural steel frames and replacing the existing primary elements of the structure. As a result, a clear and transparent space volume was obtained in these lower levels.
The second floor of the building is dedicated to housing. An extra (third) floor was also added so the available surface for housing was increased. This feature of the project was proposed by the client for financial reasons. The structure at this level and the extension were conceived in “Steel framing”, using cold formed steel profiles.
The slabs for both housing and commercial surfaces, were projected in “Steel framing”, using profiles in cold-formed steel. This dry construction system (a system in which there is no need to use water or materials containing water such as concrete) facilitated the assembly and execution phase, and allowed the final customer to optimize time and maximize financial profits on their building.
Structural Analysis and added Value
Dynamis performed the design of the whole structure of the building, checked the foundation system for the new structure, designed the joints of the main columns with the foundation, designed the bolted connections of all the profiles and checked the existing masonry walls.
So as to perform this structural analysis, a finite element model was used. From this model, tensional stresses and displacements were obtained. These structural analyses were based on static unitary linear load cases that were combined, including the cases of climatic actions: wind, snow and temperature according to the Belgian Standards (Eurocode). The checks were conducted using in-house tools that had, as an input, the efforts and displacements obtained in the structural analysis.
Dynamis performed the design of the whole structure of the building, checked the foundation system for the new structure, designed the joints of the main columns with the foundation, designed the bolted connections of all the profiles and checked the existing masonry walls.
The two main positive outcomes of the project were:
(i) Maximising the commertial area suitable for commertial use
(ii) The increase of profitability o the investment for our client, which was achieved both by reducing the period of construction works and by optimising the quantities of materials used
