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Everards Brewery, Leicester

Dura Slab Fire-Rated Mezzanine Floor & Stair Treads for Public Areas | Case Study

Project: Everards Brewery, Leicester, UK

Client: Kier, Traditional Structures

170-year old Everards Brewery Ltd has embarked on an ambitious relocation strategy to create a viable and vibrant destination known as Everards Meadow. Led by Kier, phase 1A of the project opened in 2019, constructing 862 m² of new office accommodation, 1454 m² of brewery floor area and 1,054 m² of retail, food and drink space.

Everards new home, at Everards Meadows, near Enderby, is now open and has the capacity to produce more than 4.3 million pints of beer every year.

Phase 1B includes the construction of a new state-of-the-art brewery and flexible space which will also play host to tasting sessions, brewery tours and other events.

Experienced structural steelwork specialists Traditional Structures Ltd worked with Dura Composites to deploy a fire-rated heavy duty Glass Reinforced Polymer flooring and stair tread solution which achieved major cost savings versus the previously specified traditional heavy diamond pattern open mesh steel flooring with solid durbar top-plate.

Using a combination of structural steelwork and lightweight GRP Dura Slab products, resulted in the delivery of a mezzanine floor which was easier to handle and work with on site and provided a more cost-effective solution to traditional steel flooring designs.

In this scenario, Traditional Structures created safe plant access and viewing platforms which met the end client’s fire resistance requirements and from which it will be possible for members of the public to also watch beer production when the facility opens.

Speaking about the project, Lawrence Stainsby, Managing Director at Traditional Structures Ltd said:

This project was a strong collaboration between Traditional Structures Ltd and Dura Composites and is a great example of how GRP composite materials can be used with structural steelwork to provide a cost-effective alternative to the more conventional heavy and cumbersome steel flooring selected by many design teams.

 

On this project the Dura Slab was lighter to handle and therefore less labour intensive to work with and fit than steel – and yet still achieved all of the end client’s requirements in terms of fire safety, anti-slip and longevity.

Unlocking the Power of Composites for the Manufacturing Sector

Traditionally, the manufacturing sector has relied on the use of steel and aluminium products, but advances in technology have led to the adoption of GRP as a safe and reliable replacement material that is lighter in weight and easier to handle and passes approved testing such as fire ratings.

Non-conductive, non-corrosive and warm-to-the-touch, GRP is ideal for ladders and handrailing and can be easily cut on site. When used as mezzanine flooring, stairs and landings, its incredible anti-slip surface promotes safe working practices around brewing tanks and pumping equipment.

Why Dura Slab Proved Ideal for this Project

Designed, developed and manufactured by Dura Composites, Dura Slab heavy duty floor panels and structural stair treads offer outstanding safety, performance and durability.

In this project, Dura Slab Type 50 FR and Dura Slab Type 65 Structural Stair Treads were selected for their ability to meet the required 60 minute fire-rating burn time needed for the areas in which public tours are planned. In addition, the end client and subcontractor benefited from the products’ ability to be easily fabricated into complex curved shapes to speed up install time on site.

Although the original specification included diamond pattern open mesh steel flooring with integral solid durbar top plate, the lead time and cost to deploy proved prohibitive for the project.

By contrast the GRP solution from Dura Composites proved to be not only cost-effective and efficient to install, but it was readily available from stock with minimal lead times. This meant that the client was able to make major savings on the cost of steel without having to compromise on the required safety factors for the project.

GRP composites can provide major design flexibility, time saving benefits and significant lifecycle advantages over traditional materials such as plywood, hardwood and concrete, and recent clarification of key standards areas such as fire performance have made them more accessible than ever. Tailored d2 Dura Grating is a new patent pending GRP grating series that takes structural flooring to the next level.

d2 Dura Grating offers outstanding safety, performance and durability and is more cost-effective than traditional GRP grating in almost every scenario.

Available exclusively from Dura Composites, d2 Dura Grating Solid Top 41mm can be supplied as standard with properties such as strength, stiffness, weight and colour can be engineered by product design at the early stages of development and applications for GRP within the Automotive Sector include GRP flooring, handrails, trench and duct covers, up and over staircases, utility screening and roof walkways.

Contact our Specialist GRP team about our Composite Solutions

Call us on 01255 440290

Joe Hunt

Industrial Sales Manager

Ian Dennis

Industrial Sales Key Account Manager

Danielle Lewis

Industrial Sales Account Manager