Light Steel Frame Buildings is Cost Efficiency

Steel Frame historically has been less expensive than competing forms of construction. Light Steel Frame is manufactured from sheet steel on continuous roll forming mills at high speed.  Since the process is fast, there is less need to carry manufactured product in stock. Factory panels improve economy.

Light Steel Frame Buildings is Energy efficient

Sustainability is all about optimal use of the resources on earth, which includes avoiding over-exploitation of resources, minimizing harm to the environment and the atmosphere and ensuring an acceptable quality of life for every human being, now and in the future. Steel has become an eminently sustainable material, through the modernization of production processes which optimizes energy consumption, and minimizes pollution, as well as through the recycling of discarded metals.

Light Steel Frame Building offers designers and building owners the opportunity to maximize energy efficiency during building operations as well as during the life of the building.

The primary steel industry worldwide has in recent times vastly improved production processes to minimize energy consumption and pollution. Furthermore, a large percentage of all discarded metals generated is re-used in electric arc furnaces to produce new steel, resulting in significant energy savings and a cleaner environment.

As Steel Frame Building is an engineered building method, use of materials is optimized offering savings in energy used to produce the materials.

The mass of a wall in a Light Steel Frame Building is less than 10% of that of a double skin plastered brick wall. It follows that significant energy savings are achieved merely in the transport of the materials to the building site. Furthermore, wastage of materials on site is minimized, again conserving energy by eliminating the need to remove truck loads of building rubble after completion of the building process.

However, the most significant energy saving is achieved over the life of the building. Light Steel Frame Buildings can be optimally insulated for each type of building, in the different geographic regions in Southern Africa , resulting in energy savings for heating and cooling.

All the above factors combine to render Light Steel Frame Buildings energy efficient, and sustainable.

Light Steel Frame Buildings is Faster during Construction:

Time saving is estimated to be more than 40%, compared with conventional building. Less time less labour cost less interim interest from the bank. All frames are manufactured and assembled under controlled factory conditioned, maximizing quality and efficiency.  Cold or wet weather is not an issue with Light Steel Frame and so the construction season can be extended into the full year. This combined with the use of panels will enhance warehousing affect for your materials as well as timelier tenant/owner occupancy.

Light Steel Frame Buildings has better Thermal Performance:

A great deal of time, money and effort is spent on the Thermal insulation. Thermal insulation can be specified to be up to 5 x superior to conventional brick and mortar buildings. Light Steel Frame when combined with other materials will make economic and efficient building envelope systems for the effective control of thermal transfer and moisture movement.

Light Steel Frame Buildings gives Extra floor space

Due to reduced thickness of external walls compared with a double skin brick wall(some 6%).

Light Steel Frame Buildings are more Accurate

The Light Steel Frame dictates a high degree of accuracy of building dimensions. Being computer designed and rolled, the allowable tolerances are minute(as low as 5mm), thus ensuring a perfect home every time.

Light Steel Frame Buildings is more Durable

With its high strength and protective coatings, Light Steel Frame is impressively durable. Standard coatings on Light Steel Frame in properly constructed, environmentally controlled buildings will perform over one hundred years and more.

Sloping sites

The Steel Frame building method lends itself to column foundations and suspended floors, reducing the cost of building on uneven sites.

Architecturally Attractive & Flexible

With Light Steel Frame, the designer has extensive choices of finishes to achieve the desired aesthetics for the project. Some of the exterior wall finishes commonly combined with Light Steel Frame are:

* Single skin brick veneer
* Fibre Cement Sheets
* Vermont Plank (Ship Lapped)
* Brick, stone, ceramic tile and concrete veneers
* Prefinished plywood
* The ETICS Façade system. (EPS and combination of adhesives mechanically fixed into the exterior wall of a building)
* Cement plaster (stucco) on metal lath

Flexibility

Horizontal and vertical additions can be effected easily, in stages.

Almost Limitless Design Freedom

Light Steel Frame can be used for almost any building construction. Light Steel Frame in ground floor exterior axial load bearing walls is limited are continually expanding with advances in roll forming manufacturing. Span lengths will vary by section size i.e. with the depth and thickness of steel member, but unsupported spans of up to 24 meters has been achieved.

Non-Combustibility & Fire Resistant

Steel is a non-combustible material and will not add fuel to a building fire. Many floor and wall assemblies made from Light Steel Frame have been tested and several additional designs have achieved significant fire ratings.

Earlier Occupation

Faster construction means earlier completion, therefore earlier beneficial occupation of buildings.

Reliable & Healthy

Light Steel Frame is a reliable product that will not shrink, warp, swell, creep or otherwise move which enhances and maintains construction quality. Light Steel Frame is non-organic and so cannot rot or support unhealthy infestations of mold and fungus growth. Steel Frame is not hospitable to nor will vermin such as termites and rodents damage it.

Ease of Assembly

Light Steel Frames are easily handled in the shop and field. Many roll formed sections can be moved and lifted by hand or by low capacity mechanical lifts, possibly allowing smaller and less expensive job site hoisting equipment.

Minimal wastage

Most of the cutting and sizing is done in-factory, the material wastage is zero. Whatever waste steel there might be are recycled
.On-site hardly any cutting is required. The Light Steel Frame house comes in already completed frames ready to be erected.

Services

Plumbing and Electrical wiring are installed in wall cavities without chasing of walls.

Tried and Tested

Steel has a long record of use in construction due to its strength, durability and economy. Steel Framing brings these attributes plus many others to the low-rise residential and commercial marketplace. Consider the following:

Lightweight Construction

Roll-formed Light Steel Frame sections have a higher strength to weight ratio and, therefore, are lighter than wood or masonry of comparable size. This means less building mass. This has a positive impact on the building’s seismic resistance, it may allow economical spread footing foundations and it may also allow upward expansion in a building originally not designed for an extra floor.

Panels

Wall, floor and roof panels can be easily and quickly assembled in a factory setting. Field erection of factory assembled panels is generally more timely and efficient compared to wet masonry. Light Steel Frame panels can be easily highway transported limited only by length and width restrictions not load limits. Controlled factory design are inherently stable and accurate steel sections enhances construction quality.

Approved by National Building Regulations

Complies with the rational design requirements of the National Building Regulations.

Approved by National Home Builders Registration Council – NHBRC

Each structure is signed off by a structural engineer

Although the use of sophisticated software has greatly benefited the design and engineering of Light Steel Frame Buildings, you can rest assured that ALL plans must be approved by a consulting structural engineer.