5. Refurbishment

Every building and component has a life cycle and during this life cycle every element normally requires some maintenance and eventually either replacement or refurbishment. Sometimes a building's use can become limited due to changes in trends or fashion, and the building needs to be modified. The modification can vary from upgrading the existing fabric to additional roof top extensions using steel framing systems.

An important decision for building owners who are planning refurbishment activities is how to minimize disruption to adjacent buildings and existing residents. Owners also need to consider cost, standards of workmanship and the time involved in organising and checking refurbishment work. Any system that will allow rapid construction has the benefit of minimising disruption.

Steel technologies allow significant prefabrication to take place off site and away from the development so that disruption time and nuisance is minimised. Also there is a variety of different steel technologies from which a best solution can be created for refurbishment.

Refurbishment solutions need not be complex, but a good understanding of available materials, solutions and application techniques is required. Steel refurbishment solutions can be tailored to the building owner's requirements and to the project character..

Use of pre-finished steel for external envelope systems, combined with steel support systems, allows light weight, strong systems to be created that respect the character of the original building.

Moreover, steel is widely used in refurbishment projects because it offers flexibility in design through the use of shape and form. Pre-finished steel has the added advantage of a wide colour choice and a number of products that are guaranteed for long-term performance.

The major options for refurbishment are listed below:

• Façade cladding
  • Slate and tile support system
  • Composite wall panels
  • Over-painting of existing cladding
  • Façade panel system
  • Rainscreen cladding
• Over roofing
  • Metal standing seam pitched over-roof
  • Built-up, insulated system over roof system
  • Flat and trapezoidal profile over-cladding for walls
  • Composite panels
  • Flat to pitch framed roof systems
  • pre assembled light steel framing
• Building extensions/conversions
  • Extensions to buildings to provide new toilet and bathroom units and service risers.
  • Enclosing existing open balconies to provide better internal environments.
  • New enclosed stairs and access walkways (or replacement of existing stairs).
  • New balconies and other features.
  • New external lifts.
  • Roof top extensions to create new apartments or communal space.
  • Conversion of redundant office buildings into apartments.

Figure 1a Cross-section through over-roofing scheme in Copenhagen

Figure 1b Installation of pre-fabricated elevator shaft

Figure 1c New modules attached to the elevation of a building

Figure 1d Mixed use of new modules and balconies

Figure 1e Roof top modules with separate access

Available Products from light-gauge elements

Profiled sheeting

Profiled sheeting is available in a wide range of geometries and may be adapted for several different uses. In single or double skin roof sheeting (Figure 2) the steel sheet is normally used as the external profile. Its main function is to ensure the security of the roofing. The main function of the internal sheet in a double skin roof is to support the insulation, although by incorporating suitable perforations it may assist in improving the acoustic properties of the building. Double skins may use the same profile for both sheets, in which case the roofing is generally called parallel texture.  Or it can use a different profile internally, thereby replacing the purlins. In this latter case the arrangement is termed crossed texture.

Figure 2a Roof sheeting

For flat roofs, Figure 2b, the steel profile has, in addition to supporting its own dead weight, the function of carrying the insulation and the maintenance and climatic (snow and wind) loads.

Figure 2b Flat roof decking

In such arrangements it is important to ensure that the insulation can safely span the troughs between adjacent upper flanges of the corrugations. 

For vertical walls, the outer skin of either a single or double wall-cladding (Figure 3) has to ensure air tightness and water tightness, whilst at the same time providing an attractive visual aspect to the building. The internal skin is then effectively a structural tray or cassette, spanning horizontally between columns that provides a flat internal wall and supports the insulation.

Figure 3 Vertical wall construction

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