James Jones TSD Design EC5 Compliant Roof

This large scale project, which used 2,400 lm of the company’s UK manufactured, FSC, JJI-Joists, was designed in-house using specially developed software. Engineering Manager Ross Brown commented: “This was a great opportunity to put our software through its paces and we’re delighted how well it performed.” The building is on schedule for handover this September.

James Jones’ specialist Eurocode software means that the company can now effectively and efficiently supply EC5 compliant design for roofs and floors Europe wide. And while in the UK both BS5268 Part 2 and Eurocode 5 are still operating concurrently, publicly procured projects already require design to Eurocode standards.

That apart, Engineering Manager Ross Brown describes the actual design of this particular primary school roof as “pretty standard” with a single ridge and a fall to either side; a solid timber overhang; and several openings to accommodate windows and automatically opening vents along its length. Its sheer scale however was significant and had implications for both the manufacture and supply of the roof.

Phil Gorman, Director of James Jones’ distribution partners Boards Cottingham, takes up the story. He says “We were responsible for the actual manufacture and assembly of the roof structure which was 65.1m long and 37.5m wide and required 1710 engineered JJI-Joists to complete. Valued at £3m this was the biggest single job we’ve ever done and our first one to EC5 compliance!”

The approach from Boards Cottingham was to fabricate the roof structure in six sections and to supply the structural and other timbers to site with every joist cut and numbered, to ease the construction process. Phil Gorman confirms Ross Brown’s report that, despite the challenges, this was a very successful project. “It couldn’t have gone more smoothly” he says.