Chili's restaurant chain orders
Hybeam 'supersize'
The American restaurant business,
Chili's, have opened a new eatery in Penrith. Construction
had to proceed according to strict design perimeters
and guidelines, consistent with Chili's aesthetic
values. John Bills of Truss-T-Frame Timbers, along
with Timberbuilt and Lanskey Constructions, got
together to deliver a restaurant exactly to their
client's taste.
| Chili's describes themselves as
'. a great place to hang out with friends and family
and enjoy a delicious meal. It has an energy that
you won't find anywhere. Chili's offers a distinct,
fresh, and flavourful mix of grilled American favourites
prepared in a way that keep folks coming back for
more.'
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Truss-T-Frame Timbers is based in
the Wollongong area and has been around for 18 years.
Says John Bills, who has been with the company for
14 of those years, "We do some out of the ordinary
stuff, we attempt what others don't touch." Working
with 'lateral thinking' builders Lanskey's who have
been responsible for construction of many of the
Burger King restaurants, they took
on the Chili's project and worked on a design to
meet their set requirements.
The key design feature was the roof
inside the restaurant, built from large exposed
and stained timber rafters. The American company
had to 'ok' the look of the product before the project
could be given the nod.
Bills' first problem was accessing
the timber beams in the size required. The job could
not be achieved using traditional trusses, and while
Hybeam® Engineered I-Joists by futurebuild®
were considered, the standard range of beams did
not include a size large enough for this job. This
is where Timberbuilt were able to step in. Timberbuilt
specialises in the design and supply of components
for commercial structures. They interpreted requirements
established by Truss-T-Frame and proposed a roof
system using a custom made Hybeam size manufactured
by futurebuild to their specification. Cameron Rodger,
from Timberbuilt explained that the package despatched
to Truss-T-Frame included design details, the I-beams,
and all the associated special connection and lateral
restraint components.
The beams then needed to be stained,
but because this would be awkward post-construction,
the staining happened prior to installation. Again,
the client was very specific about the look of the
rafters, says Bills: "No glue, no labelling, that
all had to be sanded off before use. A little glue
overrun is unavoidable.so it had to be sanded off.
The staining came up really well."
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