Face Consultants have recently been working on a new £65 million sortation warehouse with a floor area of 360,000 sq. ft in Yorkshire. The construction site covers approximately 55 acres and is forecast to be completed in 2022.

Face Consultants were commissioned by specialist flooring contractor ABS Brymar Floors Ltd to check the warehouse floor’s compliance with the FM2 classification found in the Concrete Society’s Technical Report No 34 (TR34) 4th edition.

Face Consultants completed all surveying over four visits as the floor construction progressed.

Essential Checks for Free Movement Floors

Well designed and constructed floors are essential for the safe and smooth operation of Materials Handling Equipment, especially in warehouses of this size and importance. Floors constructed to FM2 specifications can help warehouse operators achieve increased productivity, enhance equipment life by preventing unnecessary wear and tear, and reduce maintenance of the building.

Guidance for the Design and Construction of Industrial Concrete Floors

The Concrete Society’s Technical Report 34 is a guide to the design and construction of concrete industrial ground floors. It is viewed as an all-encompassing guidance document which specifies the required surface regularity for the slab for different uses.

In this case, free movement (random traffic) operations, with definitions of how the floor should be sampled and analysed clearly stated. It controls Property F which is the short wavelength (Flatness) characteristic and Property E which is the long wavelength (Levelness) characteristic.

A check to Datum is also carried out.

Properties E and F

Property E

The elevational difference in millimetres directly between fixed points 3m apart (not across diagonals).

Property F

To control flatness, the change in elevational difference between two consecutive measurements of elevational difference each measured over 300mm.

Surveying Video

Our video below shows Face surveyors (on another site) checking compliance with Property E (Levelness) on a 3-meter grid, as well as checking all levels to a datum point. Later in the video, our surveyor is using a state-of-the-art Property II meter to check the Property F (Flatness) element of the TR34 standard.

Watch The Face Team Surveying The Floor

Floor Surface Regularity Surveying

Face Consultants can test the surface regularity to all current (Free Movement) specifications including FM1, FM2, FM3 and FM4 found in TR34 (UK), as well as ASTM F Numbers from the USA and the German DIN 18202 standards.

We can also carry out (Defined Movement) surveys, to check floors that are to be used for Very Narrow Aisle (VNA) racking installations, as well as specialised surface regularity surveys on floors that are to be used by automated systems like Goods to Person (G2P) Robotics, Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMR), and Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems (ASRS).

Your warehouse floor is the essential base for all your operations. Contact us today for expert advice on your next project.

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About The Client:

Caddick Construction is a family-owned construction and civil engineering business, delivering high quality projects in a range of sectors. Caddick Construction also offer services which include Design, Property Development, Property Management, Leisure and Event Management.

The Situation:

Emerald Headingley Rugby and Cricket has undergone a £45m redevelopment, the scheme includes the installation of floodlights and the rebuilding of the North/South stand, to incorporate a three-tiered seating area which will accommodate 4300 seats, enhanced corporate facilities and new permanent concession units. The redevelopment of the 125 year old stadium was to ensure the Emerald Headingley Stadium could remain as a world class sports stadium.

Statistics show that there are 35,000 serious slips per year. That’s one every three minutes in workplaces alone. The estimated cost of slip accidents to employers is £750 million and the cost to NHS is in the region of £250 million. With 95% of major slips resulting in broken bones the average cost of a slip claim is £14K.

The Solution:

Face Consultants Ltd were asked by the main contractor, Caddick Construction to carry out pendulum tests to check the slip resistance of the new concrete and resin floor surfaces around the development, testing in the new stands, concourses, kitchens, cellars and entrances to name a few.

The testing was carried out to check that the relevant slip resistance standard was being achieved.

The Results:

Detailed reports of the tests were issued with our findings following each of our visits which were carried out in multiple phases at the request of our client.

Facilities managers, local authorities and building owners are under obligation to ensure the floor or surface of the traffic route is not slippery so there is no risk of injury to any person. This is enforced by the “Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992”.

Summary Of Services Provided:

Face Consultants carried out slip resistance testing using:

• Pendulum Slip / Skid tester

Download Case Study

For further information about our slip resistance testing, please contact Face Consultants on 01484 600090.

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A complete reconfiguration of their racking system and installation of the latest in vertical storage and automation technology from Kardex has delivered incredible efficiencies and additional storage capacity for our client.

Installation of the Vertical Carousel and Shuttle System was a compelling investment by improving productivity and throughput, whilst increasing storage capacity and significantly reducing the footprint required to store the stock. The extra space available enabled additional racking to be installed including VNA (very narrow aisle) racking, further increasing capacity.

With all the additional storage, demands on the floor quickly became a problem. The existing warehouse is an old facility dating back around 50 years and the slab was never designed to take the loads of the Kardex System or the condensed racking configuration.

Face Consultants were contacted to assess the floor loading capabilities, this involved taking core samples, running laboratory tests on the cores to determine the compressive strength and then analysing the results against the requirements of the racking and Kardex systems. In addition, a Profileograph (floor profiler) survey was carried out to review the slab for suitability for VNA use.

The results of the tests revealed slab thicknesses ranged between 120mm to 150mm with varying compressive strengths. The short fall in structural capacity of the floor was a major set-back for our client. The option to completely demolish and rebuild a new slab was seriously considered but the cost of construction and the significant disruption it would cause the business quickly ruled it out.

Face Consultants were asked to provide a solution that would not impact operations or the critical deadline for installation of Kardex system.

The Solution

In other parts of the world, Face has designed (and through our contracting division, CoGri) they have constructed and upgraded hundreds of warehouse floors. Drawing on our global experience, Face proposed cutting and removing two sections of floor to upgrade the slab to take the loads of Kardex Carousel and Shuttle System, using a Face designed slab.

Where the majority of the VNA racking and wide aisle racking was to be installed, Face Consultants designed concrete plinths to sit on top of the slab to which the racking would then be fixed. It sounds like a brilliantly simple solution to a potential expensive demolition and reconstruction job, but it was far more complicated than just building a slab-on-slab. For one, the floor levels in some sections were out by as much as 60mm across a construction joint, and you then need to consider how the MHE would need to operate with the new plinth to name just a couple of challenges. This was all before you had to consider construction of the plinths themselves, in a fully operational warehouse with limited access. This is where CoGri Australia was introduced to provide the required expertise to deliver the solution.

Additional Challenge

With the loading issue sorted for the racking and the Carousel and Shuttle System, assessment of the floor for the VNA racking revealed another issue. Analysis of the flatness showed the floor was not suitable for the safe operation of the very narrow aisle MHE (material handling equipment), for the heights they will be required to operate. A simple and effective solution would have been to laser grind the floor using CoGri’s patented Laser Grinder® technology, however, to achieve the F-min flatness specification would mean grinding as much as 15-20mm off the floor in some areas, and whilst this is common and easily achieved using the Laser Grinder®, the already thin floor could not be reduced any further. Even though the racking had been upgraded to take the new loads, reducing the thickness of the VNA slab where the MHE would operate in the aisles was not possible.

Industrial Grade Floor Screed

Despite Laser Grinding being the ultimate upgrade to a floor for VNA use, the only solution left available was to apply an industrial grade screed system. Upgrading a floor to meet the Fmin VNA flatness specification using a screed system is not as simple as just pouring a self-smoothing (often, and wrongly, referred to as self-levelling) screed; because simply laying a self-smoothing screed to a floor without consideration of the flatness levels required will not guarantee the floor will meet the specification. Furthermore, some screed systems can introduce static build-up, and with repetitive traffic along the defined path, they can wear resulting it tracks in the floor, and there is also risk of the screed delaminating. Ultimately, though, a self-smoothing screed would not meet the flatness specification for VNA use.

Through Face and CoGri’s extensive experience in super-flat floors, the screed system was laid to the required F-min flatness tolerance. A survey was taken of the floor using a precise optical level and PPM (Precision Plate Micrometre), the results analysed and then a flatness profile was then plotted on the floor using a series of screws adjusted precisely to meet the F-min specification. The screed was then poured and carefully finished to the new flatness profile and checked for compliance.

CoGri’s FASTFLOOR-IT Screed System is a unique cementitious pump screed used to upgrade industrial floors for all types of use, and with an abrasion resistance rating exceeding AR1, wearing risk of the surface is almost totally eliminated.

Additional Repairs

Across the remaining floor area, through years of use, many of the floor joints were in need of repair. Cracks, joint repairs and spall damage was repaired by CoGri, including additional joint repairs to the external slab that connected the existing warehouse and to a recent extension.

Overall, Face Consultants and CoGri Australia was able to provide our client with a low impact, reduced cost solution to upgrade their floor to install the latest automated equipment and condensed racking configuration to meet their logistical operational needs for years to come.

Summary of Services Provided

• Slab Loading Capability
• Flatness Testing
• Slab Design
• Slab Demolition and Construction
• Installation of Industrial Screed System for VNA use
• Concrete joint repairs, joint resealing, crack and spall repairs

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Amazon appointed Face Consultants via Eurostick.  The Face design team undertook a critical design review of the Engineer’s proposals for the warehouse floor, which was an extension to their existing site.

“The new floor slab is around 30,000m2” said Duane Scarfe, Operations and Quality manager of Face Consultants. “When we were approached to review the design and oversee the work, we had to give Amazon the level of quality and attention to detail that they expect.”

After discussing changes to the original design with Amazon, a Face surveyor went to Madrid to supervise the ground floor slab works to ensure the floor was constructed as designed and specified.

Duane said: “It’s a steel fibre and mesh reinforced slab. The on-site supervision includes pre pour checks such as sub-base visual inspections, and level checks on the sub-base”

Face Consultants issue a daily report on progress and issues that need attention and improvement.  Upon completion they also issue a final report.

“Firms such as Amazon and other household names need services like our onsite QA so that their floor is constructed as specified” added Duane.  “We’re well known for our experience and service in this area, which is why we’re asked to go round the world to supervise projects.”

The Face Consultants Quality Assurance process includes:

• Approval of plate-load-tests.
• Check that joints, column isolation and/ or forms are set properly.
• Check that plastic membranes are placed according to project specification.
• Check that reinforcement (if used) is correct.
• Monitor concrete supply, concrete quality and consistency, fibre content (if used).
• Observe slump tests and cubes/ cylinders, check slab levels and thickness, curing process, sawing of joints etc.
• A final finished slab inspection.

If you need supervision or a design review for an upcoming concrete floor project, contact Face Consultants. Tel: +44 (0) 1484 600090. Email: info@face-consultants.com

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Brent Cross Shopping Centre faced this dilemma in November, and called Face Consultants in. Christmas shopping had begun and a tenant was due to move in to the empty unit, on the proviso that the shop floor met a certain specification.

“The guys at Brent Cross were a bit worried about getting someone in at short notice when they called us.” said Duane Scarfe, Operations and Quality Manager at Face Consultants. “As it turned out, we could visit them at a shorter timescale than they could actually manage!”

The shopping centre was told that the floor in this particular unit couldn’t have a surface difference of more than 6mm over 3 metres, and no more than 25mm range over the entire floor.
The problem with specifications like this is that although a form of surface regularity has been specified, what hasn’t been specified is where to test and the frequency of the testing” Duane added. “It would have been impossible to check the entire floor area for compliance within a reasonable amount of time.”

In light of this, Face Consultants had the task of coming up with a sufficient method for testing, and they put a proposal to their client for them to discuss with their prospective tenant.

The can-do and proactive approach worked, and Face Consultants went ahead with the level survey and straight edge testing on 4th December, only eight days after the initial call. The needs of a well known client were satisfied, with Face showing an appreciation for urgent timescales, even when requirements aren’t that straightforward.

The post Moving Quickly Across The Shop Floor appeared first on Face Consultants.

With this in mind, it’s testament to the people who work for Face Consultants that they can step up to the mark and deliver a speedy and world class service, as and when required, by globally recognised companies.

The post Amazing Service Delivered To Amazon appeared first on Face Consultants.

The venture, between a multiple world title winning Formula 1 team and a luxury car maker, will see the design and manufacture of a new super car and fits perfectly with Face Consultants ethos of precision and excellence. The facility is expected to operate in almost ‘laboratory’ conditions, with construction due to begin towards the end of June this year.

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After steadily lining up the work at the start of the year, the Middle Eastern region has seen a massive increase in its workload with the work coming to fruition, involving both new floor construction and repairs to existing facilities.

FACE Middle East continues to develop new relationships in the region by carrying out their first ever design & supervision contract for a civil contractor. The new facility is just a little over 12,500m2. FACE were brought in once a preliminary floor design had been issued. By applying the value engineering principals (value engineered floor design implementing latest standards & methods) and looking at the practicalities of building the floor slab, FACE were able to offer substantial cost savings on the construction of the floor slab. The cost for the FACE services was just a fraction of what was saved.

Once the floor construction got underway, FACE supplied a Surveyor and a Finishing Supervisor to work with the contractor’s team. The results were outstanding. The contractor honed their skills in the construction of floor slabs and their client, a 3PL, got a far better floor than what was originally proposed for a far better price.

In May, FACE offered a bespoke solution to a client who needed their floor upgrading so that it was capable of accepting the racking. Originally, the client had taken a building where the floor was only 150mm thick, but the roof height was in excess of 10m. This meant that if the client utilised the high roofline by installing tall racking, when loaded, the floor would not be able to hold the loads imposed.

Initially, the client was looking at cutting out sections of the existing floor and constructing thicker pads on which to fix the racking. Instead of going below the floor to increase its strength, FACE proposed to make the slab thicker by constructing another slab on top of the existing, but only where the racking would be located. This method was non-destructive and meant that when the client moves out of the building, they can remove the overlay slabs and return the floor back to the landlord in its original condition. Once awarded the contract, FACE did some load calculations and drafted up the design drawings.

Flooring contractor, CoGri Middle East LLC began construction by fixing the steel angle to the floor. This acted as the shuttering. Plastic and mesh were then placed within the areas and finally, Bobcats were used to place the concrete. A power floated finish completed the job.

The client has now installed the racking and the warehouse went operational in August. This is a prime example of how the CoGri Group can offer cost effective, value engineered solutions that better suit the client’s needs.

Staying on floor slab design and on-site supervision, the FACE team have been busy in New Delhi, India, working for a repeat client where they are building a new office and warehouse facility. The 3,000m2 floor area consists of 11 very narrow aisle slabs and an open transfer area. The design was passed to all tendering contractors as a definitive concept for them to bid on. A couple of months after an on-site pre-contract meeting, FACE arrived in New Delhi and have finished supervising the local contractor in the construction of the floor slab.

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Kevin gave delegates a comprehensive ‘journey of compromises’ when installing industrial concrete floors. Having summarised basic floor construction techniques around the world, he also covered structural design; detail design and construction methods including long strip, laser screed jointed, laser screed jointless and post-tensioned. The latter were compared in terms of their advantages and disadvantages.

FACE’s South African partner, Ian Buchanan of Royal Consulting Services was also speaking from a ‘Contractors Perspective’.

The seminars on Concrete Industrial Flooring took place between 20th – 24th February in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth were attended by 450 delegates from around the country.

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Some of these projects included surveying and testing work for a flooring contractor to check for compliance with FM2 special classification of a 75,000m2 DC for a well known retailer in Scotland. FACE also carried out surveying and testing work to check for compliance with FM2 special classification at a 80,000m2 facility in Somerset, working for Twintec Industrial Flooring. A DM1 survey including grinding supervision was completed at a DC in Chesterfield and at a new warehouse floor in Bromborough near Ellesmere Port which had 2448 linear metres of VNA. FACE has started surveying a new 90,000m2 (1 million square feet) distribution facility in the Midlands to check for compliance with FM2 special working for Stanford Industrial Concrete Flooring.

Overseas, FACE carried out an intermittent survey in Belgium checking F-Numbers. In Malaysia, working for the end user of a distribution centre, FACE did an initial defined movement survey to 425 linear metres of proposed VNA. After grinding, FACE resurveyed the aisles to Concrete Society’s TR34 “Superflat” for VNA installations working for CoGri Asia. In India, FACE were on-site to assist with a large project carrying out supervision and surveying to check for compliance with DM2 and FM2 and in the UAE, FACE carried out supervision to and survey work on A 90,000m2 floor to Free Movement (FM2) standard.

More recently, FACE was one of the key speakers at the latest Association of Concrete Industrial Flooring Contractors (ACIFC) meeting on the 29th September. The Future for ACIFC event took place at the National Space Centre Exploration Drive in Leicester.

Tony Hulett, Technical Director of Face Consultants Ltd, addressed the audience about the design and quality assurance of warehouse floors, including testing and measuring, value for money and whole life costing. The event was attended by contractors and associate members in the concrete flooring industry.

The post FACE Accrues 350,000sqm flooring projects appeared first on Face Consultants.

The new Distribution Centre is expected to be the first in a series of
expansion plans for ASG.

Client: Al Seer Group
FACE Middle East Solution: SuperFlat Floor Construction – On site Training, Supervision, Consultancy and Testing.
Floor Area: 10,00sqm of SuperFlat Floor
Floor Specification: TR34 DM2 specification.

Work started on the first centre in Oman for ASG which required 10,000sq metres of SuperFlat floor to be built. 25% of the warehouse will be used as a Freezer Store, 25% as wide aisles and the rest as narrow aisles. The VNA plan
included 11 aisles, each measuring at 66 metres long.

FACE ME worked with the client and the local contractor for the design of the floor, and provided on site Training, Supervision, Consultancy and Testing during construction, to ensure the finished floor met with the latest strict International Specification for Flatness when finally surveyed and certified for compliance.

As part of the training identified, FACE ME has been engaging with local contractors, coaching them on the latest techniques and principals of laying SuperFlat Floors. The method of construction used was Long Strip, which meant that each proposed narrow aisle location was laid as a separate section of floor, allowing for tighter control of flatness, and positioning of joints.

Once the building process was completed and the floor laid, FACE ME returned to test the floor profiles for compliance to TR34 DM2 specification, using the FACE Digital Profileograph.

This project is the second of its kind for FACE ME in Oman.

The Warehouse was completed earlier this year.

Acknowledgement:
FACE ME would like to thank the Al Seer Group for the support given for this article.

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The hall was filled with 150 attendees from the Middle East, Europe, Australia and America at the first Middle East Industrial Flooring Conference held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on 17 March, 2009. The full-day conference offered over a dozen seminars and interactive discussions with experts in concrete flat floor construction and finishing. This unique conference was organised by Construct-A-Slab, an alliance of four leaders of the concrete flooring industry; Somero Enterprises, Face Consultants, Multiquip and Permaban. Operating on a global basis, the Construct-A-Slab alliance brings together extensive experience using best practices in the design, construction and finishing of high tolerance concrete floors of the highest quality.

The attendance of prominent firms such as Fujairah National Construction Company (FNC), Core, DP World, Agility Logistics, Samsung Construction and the many positive responses from contractors, developers, engineers, architects and logistics firms, speak to the event’s success. Delegates commented enthusiastically on the excellence and relevance of the technical content presented, and the opportunity to understand the benefits in adopting best practices in industrial flooring construction. Each delegate received a copy of Technical Report 34 (TR34), the most up-to-date technical guide to performance based specifications in the construction of concrete industrial floors, produced by The Concrete Society.

Experts from Construct-A-Slab offered both general information on the history of industrial floor construction, and highly technical content regarding finishing processes, joint construction and performance based floor specifications and testing, based upon industry standards set forth in TR34. The conference was privileged to also feature presentations by others, including ArcelorMittal Wire Solutions on the use of steel fibres, and BASF Construction Chemicals speaking about concrete additives. Ashton Smith Associates, specialists in the design of large distribution logistics and industrial parks, offered the client’s perspective to the overall construction process, while UAE flooring contractor Amana Contracting and Steel Buildings spoke on the benefits of adopting the modern approach to industrial flooring. Stanford Industrial Concrete Flooring, one of the United Kingdom’s premier concrete flat floor specialists, brought all the information together and demonstrated with “real world” examples how the totality of the elements discussed fit together from a contractor’s perspective.

The presentations also addressed the importance and feasibility of overcoming the technical challenges to laying high quality floors in the Middle East. The benefits of adopting best practices in concrete floor construction—particularly in the current economy—are many. For the building developer benefits include increased rent ability, improved rates and a known quality of construction. The building operator benefits by receiving greater operating efficiency, reduced maintenance and minimized down-time. And the contractor is able to realise faster construction with greater consistency, minimal remedial and controlled injuries and costs.

The Construct-A-Slab alliance exists to promote the building of quality concrete floors, fit-for-purpose, and right the first time. Their mission is to foster on a global basis: best practice in construction of concrete industrial floors; performance based specifications based on industry acknowledged standards; and measurement with adherence to specification.

Information will be posted on their website www.construct-a-slab.com when plans are finalised to bring together other assemblages of industrial flooring experts discussing best practice methods at future conferences.

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Client: John Lewis, UK
Face Consultants Solution: Total Quality Management Service
Floor Area: 60,400 m2
Floor Specification: TR34 DM1 & FM2 Special
Slab Thickness: 215mm

The CoGri Group has a 14-year relationship with John Lewis, so when this leading UK retailer was planning a new 60,400 m² distribution center at Milton Keynes, it decided to call on our expertise once again.

For this particular project it was the Total Quality Management package provided by FACE Consultants that John Lewis called on, in order to ensure that the floor was designed and installed to enable the warehouse to be operated as intended and minimal maintenance would be needed in the future. FACE were involved in the project from initial design concepts to final hand-over.

Led by Technical Director Tony Hulett, FACE first advised John Lewis on the floor requirements for the new warehouse, including issues such as floor flatness to enable man-up order pickers and other trucks to operate as
efficiently as possible and the position of floor joints to allow for mezzanine floors, high-bay racking and sorting/packing facilities. For the area in and around the racking, measuring around 10,000 m², FACE specified a floor that would meet the latest Concrete Society TR34 DM1 standard and the equivalent proposed European standard for defined movement areas, while the Concrete Society FM2 Special standard was specified for the rest of the building. A concrete floor slab 215 mm thick conventionally reinforced with steel mesh fabric was specified throughout, with saw cut joints positioned to allow for racking and other structures.

FACE Consultants were then appointed to supervise the installation of the floor and test the finished structure, working with the property developer (Gazeley UK Ltd), the main contractor (Simons Construction) and the project managers (Lysander Associates).

The outcome of the flooring installation has been excellent. Having checked that the sub-base was to the required standards, FACE also ensured that the floor slab was installed to the full 215mm thickness throughout, that the concrete was the correct quality and the joint details were as planned. Crucially, the flatness standards were achieved throughout the 65,000 m² building without any grinding, and the entire project was completed on time.

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