Furebuild asks What's in store
for the kiwis?
The latest trend in packhouse construction
and cold storage is all timber. While in the past
steel may have provided the framework for these
long shed buildings, Hy90® and Hybeam® by
futurebuild® now does a better job and at a
lower cost. Michael Newey of Punchbowl Coolstores
was project manager on a recently built kiwifruit
packhouse just outside of Auckland and describes
the construction process and exporting of the kiwifruit.
| Sorting, packing and marketing the
famous fuzzy fruit is an involved process, according
to Newey. And he should know. He has spent seven
years as operations manager and in this case, project
manager, for Punchbowl Coolstores. This company
specialises in owning and running orchards, contracting
packing for other orchards and running leased orchards
mostly in the North and South of Auckland.
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Kiwifruit grows extremely well in
New Zealand. In fact growers are often pruning back
the plants that can grow like weeds. Compared to
other fruits, says Newey, the kiwifruit is carefully
graded and sorted because its marketing is very
elaborate, with fruits of different shapes and sizes
and packaging being exported to different markets.
As such, the kiwi packing house or shed is 2000
square metres, with a grader down the middle. The
fruit comes in loose from the growers, runs over
the rollers where they are inspected by quality
controllers. They are then sorted by size and given
the correct packaging and exported accordingly.
"Other fruits, you just bung in a box," says Newey.
To achieve the length of the shed,
futurebuild provided the large span timber beams.
The packing house has an LVL portal frame with Hy90
rafters and Hybeam purlins. Designer, Peter Hill
of Hill Design Engineering, designed the building
and specialises in industrial and commercial timber
construction. He has worked on a range of storage
buildings of this type and explains that timber
is the popular choice for such projects "because
of the rise
in building costs and the rise in
the market price of steel over the last year or
18 months."
Instead, the same can be achieved
with timber. Hill states that in this packing house
the design suited the materials and was economical.
The building has central columns
which fit in well with the plant. The Hy90 rafters
run from the outside wall to the other side in clear
spans with four columns in the middle to lighten
the load. The weight of the Hybeam purlins also
helped lighten the load.
The bracing gussets were an unusual
feature, using all timber the structure was put
together using Hy90 and many exposed bolts and nails
that weave over the ceiling. This feature is usually
hidden with steel but in this design has been used
to great effect. As Hill says, the inside environment
has a timber look that suits the activity and the
fruit industry housed there.
In fact, so pleased was Hill with
the timber look that he is now building all timber
cow sheds, such as a recent project in Okato at
Taranaki, on New Zealand's West coast, using Hyspan
portals and purlins. "It's got a good natural look,"
he says.
As Newey tells it, Punchbowl Coolstores
selected futurebuild LVL as they had used the Australian
product in building high canopies for trucks. "The
company liked the product so we decided to use it
for this project and sought out futurebuild in New
Zealand, especially because it is now manufactured
here. We gave futurebuild the opportunity to price
it and design it for us and we really liked it.
It's good stuff, really useable."
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