A steel frame solution fabricated and supplied by SBS Group helped reduce overall costs and minimise wastage at the Frederick Street apartment project in Doncaster, Victoria.

Designed by ClarkeHopkinsClarke, the project built over four floors presented several challenges: The costs for the top level structure needed to be lowered by reducing structural steel; the brief also called for minimising waste and materials as well as accommodating a changing floor plan when two apartments were combined into one.

The SBS design team worked with the builder, Harris HMC at the tender stage itself to reduce the specified loading requirements for the roof and plant platform. A significant quantity of structural steel was replaced with lightweight steel frames, saving 10-15% on overall costs for the client.

SBS’ steel framing system was designed to accommodate the modified floor plan; the system was also certified in-house to comply with the relevant BCA code and fire engineering requirements. The steel frames were assembled easily onsite thanks to 3D modelling, layout plans and coordination with service trades.

Since the wall frames and roof trusses were fabricated to accurate specifications, the project needed less material, thereby reducing onsite waste.

SBS Group supplied a total of 11,311 L/M of steel framing for the project.