Clad Racking or Rack Clad Warehouses are structures that use current or new racking as the foundation for the building. The cladding is fitted onto the outside of the racking to achieve a strong, weatherproof building exterior. Rack Clad buildings are renowned for how it expands the warehouse capacity without requiring more land. Increasing the height of the warehouse is a great way to improve capacity whilst keeping your costs as low as possible.
Rack Clad structures are the skyscrapers of the warehouse world. With one reaching a height of 44m, EMS in Switzerland, they are very impressive constructions. But they are not the easiest to build…
The tallest warehouse in Switzerland, EMS Group, only took 7 months to fully complete the project, which in hindsight is not a great amount of time. Due to the height of the structure, it requires specialist equipment that no common building project would require, for example, a helicopter. Along with the use of a helicopter, they also required the World’s Largest Pneumatic Crane to lower the moving rack operating systems into the warehouse.
Why Choose A Rack Clad Warehouse?
It is somewhat cheaper than investing in more land to build a warehouse with a large base area, you can also invest in an automated system where pallets and storage can be removed and placed into their position by a controlled machine operation. This means that it rids you the burden of hiring more, which eventually reduces your overall business costs. It also means that the warehouse is easier to manage.
What Should You Consider?
Due to some of the factors being considerably more dangerous in these sorts of projects, health & safety must be the primary concern and every situation must be evaluated. This requires a very experienced Project Manager due to the risks of the project, it will need close attention around-the-clock.
Basic physics means that there are tremendous forces on the base plates which then requires thorough stress calculations have to be undertaken to ensure everything will be safe once the construction has finished. Also, due to the height of the project, the wind can be something that can bring the entire project to a halt.
Watch the development of the EMS Group’s Clad-Racking Warehouse in Switzerland below:
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