| 61 T T Hugh de Lacy Extra Large the focus for company The clear-span structural steel design is ideal for companies that need to move large machinery or store products or produce, says XL Structural Steel Project Consultant Vern Lawry. XL Structural Steel STEEL ROOF ING & CLADDING T IMARU AUTHORI SED SUPPL I ER Timaru | 03 688 7224 timaru@freemanroofing.co.nz www.freemanroofing.co.nz 154 Meadows Road, Washdyke, Timaru Family owned since 1956 Freeman Roofing Timaru, fabricators of heavy-duty C section Purlins and Girts, roll formed, using NZ Steel GalvSteel® materials. Tested and approved by structural engineers for the New Zealand construction industry. Spanning further than timber equivalents, Purlins and Girts that are strong, durable, and run to your required lengths. XL Structural Steel, the off-shoot of the New Zealand family-owned pioneer of kit-set sheds, Alpine Buildings, has taken its parent company’s spirit of innovation into the industrial building market – as in the apparel industry the XL stands for Xtra Large. Servicing the whole of the country, XL Structural Steel manufactures large clearspan structures for factories, warehouses, workshops, hangars and other big commercial buildings, ranging in size from 1000m2 to 10,000m2, and with clear spans of 20m to 50m. In addition, it offers a wide range of specialist features, including gantries, canopies, service pits and custom doors. XL Structural Steel began as an Alpine Buildings team effort to design a structural steel system that met the particular needs of extra-large industrial buildings. It resulted in a clear-span structural steel design that is more robust and quicker to assemble than others, while allowing complete freedom of movement in and around the building, and the use of its full height. “This is ideal for companies that need to move large machinery or store products or produce,” XL Structural Steel Project Consultant Vern Lawry says. “We provide a full design-and-build service, including complete interior design and fit-out, working with our clients from concept to completion. “Our main design office is in Timaru, and we have other offices in Gore, Ashburton and Auckland, giving the company a nation-wide reach from Southland to the Far North.” XL Structural Steel typically acts as the Lead Consultant on projects, a role that involves a wide and complex range of factors, from the design itself through the planning and consenting processes, to the detailed drawings for the construction team. “The advantage of having XL cover the whole design process is that we are able to integrate all the different fields of architecture, structural, fire and civil engineering, along with managing the building process,” Vern says. “This closes the gaps, saving our clients time, and ensuring that the consenting process is well-managed. “Our clients are typically, but not exclusively owner-operators, and the buildings usually have a highly specialised end-use, so that’s “We provide a full designand-build service, including complete interior design and fit-out, working with our clients from concept to completion. “ why it’s important for us to be involved from the very start.” The fabrication of the steel is carried out at either the Timaru or Waikato facilities, “and then we deliver it to the site and use either our own installation team or work with the customer’s chosen construction company,” he says. A key part of the company’s marketing is a presence at the annual Agricultural Fieldays near Hamilton in June. “It’s an opportunity to connect with existing, new and potential clients,” XL Marketing Manager Ursula Adeane says. “The interactions at Fieldays always provide great insights for content for our resource articles, where we aim to answer our clients’ questions possibly even before they know they need to ask,” she says. “We encounter people at the concept or early stage of the building process, and we’re able to guide them through all the details of their project – things like the consenting process, costs per square metre and the distance the building must be from boundaries.” XL Structural Steel’s parent company, Alpine Buildings, was started up in a Timaru backyard by John Brewerton in the early 1990s, building carports and farm buildings. The first building using the XL structural steel design was built in Gore in 2011, featuring 18m of clear-span on steel legs with box-section rafters. Today Alpine and XL have 50 staff between them. XL Structural Steel’s General Manager, Almanzo Boakes, is upbeat about XL’s outlook, saying “we’re going through a real growth phase. “We’re expanding our team, which is exciting and brings even more collaboration to the table.”
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