Leading manufacturer of engineered timber components, Donaldson Timber Engineering (DTE) recently completed a large-scale project with Carter Lauren Construction on the development of a new care home in Great Shelford, Cambridge.
The DTE team began an early-stage collaboration with the developers in March 2023 to complete a site visit and understand the building and the site’s requirements. The team then undertook a two-month design cycle to create the plans for the building’s roof trusses and ensure that the roof system would align with the care home’s design features and performance requirements.
The 1330 square meterage masonry building required over 530 prefabricated trusses and panels. The overall roof structure incorporated attic and flat-top trusses; vaulted areas; walkways through the trusses; party walls; gable panels, and numerous steel components. Therefore, extensive modelling was necessary in the design stage to highlight clashes with mechanical and electrical works, and where some of the building’s steel areas and units were going to interfere with truss landing points. The design team also had to incorporate split panels as the fire breaks ran perpendicular to the trusses.
The designers also took installation into serious consideration, as the site itself was small in comparison to the scale of the building. With design for erection in mind, a matching bracing line was incorporated throughout. Due to the large size of the trusses, they were split into two parts for delivery, with the lower-level trusses installed first to ensure access.
Delivered in three phases between August and December 2023, there were no issues with installation thanks to the collaboration and communication between the Donaldson team and Carter Lauren.
Lauren Brister, Design Engineer at DTE, led the design of the care home. She said: “The building had a great team of architects and engineers, which made collaboration easier. Getting involved early also meant that we could provide advice and guidance and iron out any issues right away, so the whole process was much more efficient.
“In terms of scale, this was the largest project I have ever worked on. Communication was key and I learned the value of picking up the phone and maintaining regular contact to ensure that everyone was on the same page and moving in the right direction.
“A project of this size really demonstrates the depth of experience and expertise we have across DTE. Although it was my biggest project, my colleagues had advice for every question that arose and from design through to manufacturing and delivery, we had a solution to ensure quality and efficiency. It’s a great building with exceptional features, and I’m proud of the roof system we designed.”
The first truss phase began delivery at the start of August 2023 and the last phase was delivered at the end of November 2023.
DTE is the UK’s leading and longest-established manufacturer and supplier of roof trusses, open web joists and I-joists, with a regional network of nine branches across the UK.
www.donaldsontimberengineering.co.uk
