When one of the main anchor tenants
requested that the developer provide paving
slabs for their contractor to position the store
AHUs on, the developer’s Mechanical Engineer
understood the risks with allowing the tenants
to position their own plant on a roof, which was
owned and maintained by the developer.
As the market leader in non-penetrative roof
top load management products, Big Foot
Systems were called in to assist with technical
knowledge and experience, to bring them
a design which would give the developer
confidence that plant loads involved would be
suitably managed.
Following the provision of the anchor tenant’s
plant supports the shell and core fit-out
contractor, Mitton Mechanical, approached
Big Foot to provide supports for the packaged
plant rooms and AHUs.
Working collaboratively with the plant room
and AHU manufacturer, Big Foot were able to
provide support solutions to safely manage the
loads imposed on the shopping centre roof to
give confidence that there would be no future
issues with the integrity of the landlord’s roof.
The shopping centre is designed so that if
demand was such in the future, then another
floor of stores could be easily added.
Big Foot’s non-penetrative
design ensured that in the
event of expansion, plant could
be lifted and positioned on
the new roof with no need to
remove concrete upstands or
steel stubs.
Therefore Big Foot’s design saves time and
labour costs on site, with the potential to reuse
the supports. Due the modular design there is
also the possibility to extend the frames making
it both versatile and cost effective.