** RECENTLY FEATURED IN BUILDERS CHOICE MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2019 EDITION **

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David Wills and Associates provided the design and oversaw the construction of a mixed-use building incorporating a two-storey office and a single storey manufacturing warehouse with a total floor area of 4,100 square metres. DWA completed this project on time and under budget exceeding customer expectations.

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We were responsible for structural design that involved wind and earthquake loading, concrete foundations, concrete slab, concrete columns, structural steel roof spanning 50m, crane beams and exterior canopies.

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We also undertook the civil design that included bulk earthworks, site grading, stormwater drainage and associated compensating basins, concrete hardstands, fire service including fire compartments and the sewer pump station.

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An impressive feature of this build is the large 8m tall precast concrete columns supporting the roof and forming two large 25 metre wide parallel runways which support two 25 tonne overhead cranes and two 10 tonne cranes at 8m above floor level. The cranes were designed to operate in tandem, adding significant loads to the structure.

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Enabling the structure to support concurrent loads from the four cranes without compromising the allowable deflection limits required the type of innovative thinking we pride ourselves on.

The superstructure was initially designed using steel, with the crane support columns specified as 310 Universal Columns (UCs). During construction it was found that there was a long manufacturing lead time for the specified structural steel support columns. Delays in the availability of materials which would usually result in construction delays were no problem for the engineering expertise of DWA.

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Our knowledgeable engineers quickly designed an alternative approach using 8m tall, 2.5m wide by 0.3m thick precast concrete panel columns with cast-in steel baseplates that fitted the existing holding down bolts that had been already cast in the foundations for the previously designed 310 UCs. This lateral thinking quickly resolved the problem in a timely and cost-effective manner. 

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This innovative solution demonstrates that DWA are able to adapt during the project lifecycle, offering a wide array of services which are invaluable to so many clients in this current economic market.

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