German discount supermarket chain, Lidl, recently built a brand new headquarters in Heilbronn, Germany, which involved the construction of an office building, meeting rooms, a reception facility, cafeteria, underground parking facilities, fitness centre, logistics facilities and outdoor parking facilities.
Part of the development included a requirement for a façade sun protection cladding system for the multistorey staff car park. Main contractor Leonhard Weiss sub-contracted this building element to Colt International, a specialist cladding designer and installer.
The challenge was to find a suitable method of connecting the cladding system to the steel structure on the car park, and one that was easy to install.
The engineers at Colt International designed a T-shaped steel bracket with an end plate incorporating four pre-drilled holes. The Lindapter Type A Girder Clamp, with M12 bolts, was then specified for the end plate connection to achieve the required tensile resistance and safe working load.
A hot dip galvanised finish was also specified for the Girder Clamps to provide a high-level of corrosion protection. The decision to use Lindapter Type A Girder Clamps was influenced by independent technical accreditations, which include CE Marking (ETA – 13/0300), TÜV and Lloyd’s Register approvals.
Secondary steel sections were fixed onto the existing concrete façade in preparation for the T-shaped brackets to be installed. The brackets were connected to the steel sections using Lindapter Type A Girder Clamps through the end plates in a four bolt configuration. Installation was quick and easy as each bolt is simply inserted into the pre-drilled holes with the Type A on one end and nut on the other.
The recessed top of the clamp holds the bolt captive while the nut is tightened with a torque wrench to the recommended tightening torque. This arrangement provided the necessary standoff distance between the original structure and allowed the large cladding panels to be attached to the other end of the T-shaped brackets and complete the installation.
“Lindapter Type A Girder Clamps provided a drilling and weld free connection on-site that was quick and easy to install. The clamps are fully adjustable, which gave the contractor the ability during installation to manoeuvre the brackets into their final positions before fully tightening them,” commented Lindapter.
Will joined Fastener + Fixing Magazine in 2007 and over the last 15 years has experienced every facet of the fastener sector - interviewing key figures within the industry and visiting leading companies and exhibitions around the globe.
Will manages the content strategy across all platforms and is the guardian for the high editorial standards that the Magazine is renowned.
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