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A Buyers Guide
© Llonsson Ltd - 12th March 2020
I have been designing and managing the installation of mezzanine floors for industrial
and commercial projects in all kinds of environments since the 1980’s and have come
across most situations and problems that arise.
More than 30 years knowledge and experience specifically in this field exceeds that of
many construction professionals including Architects, Surveyors and Structural Engineers,
who may only come across industrial and commercial mezzanine floors occasionally in
their careers.
I would like to share this knowledge and experience with you so that you are able to
consider your project with a clear understanding of what is involved from the outset,
enabling you to avoid potential pitfalls.
Mezzanine floor purchasing decisions are often a one off transaction without the benefit
of knowledge and experience, where the main method of product differentiation is price.
This approach can result in the buyer being disappointed with the product and service
that they receive. We are regularly approached by purchasers wishing to remedy such a
situation, sometimes during and sometimes after the event.
More enlightened buyers assess proposals on the basis of value, considering not only a
bare bones lowest price, but all the factors that impact upon the proposed project such as
regulation, design, competence, risk, service, delivery, quality, management, warranty
and finally cost in the light of these factors.
As with all construction work, three adages well worth bearing in mind are:
I hope that you will find this guide a useful tool to help you focus on which factors are
important to you for your specific needs.
1. Introduction 2
11. How big will the mezzanine floor base plates be? 11
Installing a mezzanine floor to provide additional floor space is one very cost effective
means of providing that space.
The additional cost of purchasing or renting expansion space can be avoided as can the
tangible and intangible costs and disruption of moving.
If your organisation has existing unused headroom within your property which you
already are heating, lighting and paying business rates upon, additional floor area for
offices, storage or process can be gained for a fixed capital cost.
Mezzanine floors can be generally separated into two categories, traditional and lightweight.
Benefits of this type of construction are the sound and fire insulation properties of a
substantial concrete floor.
Disadvantages of this type of construction are inflexibility, the cost and duration of
creating foundations, the dirty nature of construction with wet trades, time required to
install, the expense and difficulty of removal, particularly at the end of a lease.
Benefits are that they are fast and economical to install, extend, dismantle or
relocate.They can usually be surface mounted directly onto a concrete slab without the
time and expense of foundation work. They rely on prefabricated dry elements which
are swiftly assembled on site and are far more economical than concrete construction,
Lightweight mezzanine floors are particularly well suited to leased property that may
need to be returned to its original condition at the end of a lease as they usually have
minimal impact upon the fabric of the existing structure.
In all but the heaviest duty applications a well designed lightweight mezzanine will
have no significant disadvantages compared to traditional construction, and, like for
like, will be more economic, which is why they are such a popular means of adapting
speculative ‘shed’ type commercial properties.
Where necessary, fire protection is most economically achieved by fitting a suspended
ceiling, providing a void for concealed service distribution and sound insulation, if
desired.
Building Regulations
In the event of fire, adequate means of escape are provided from the structure for
users. In the event of fire, the structure will remain safe for a specified period to
enable the fire brigade to safely fight the fire.
These minimum standards are contained within the Building Regulations, Approved
Documents A,B,K&M, obtainable online at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/
approved-documents.
In order to ensure that these standards are met, designs including drawings and
structural calculations must be prepared and submitted to Building Control for
approval.
Building Control can take the form of a Local Authority Officer or a representative of a
firm of Approved Inspectors.
The Building Regulations are not hard and fast in all areas but can be open to
interpretation, and it is therefore important that applicants are represented by
experienced and knowledgeable professionals who know the boundaries of what is
permissible and are able to negotiate effectively with the inspector to achieve an optimal
scheme.
BRE Digest 437
Additional guidelines are published by the Building Research Establishment (BRE) to
ensure that mezzanines are adequately specified to satisfy users functional needs and
the best mezzanine floor suppliers will satisfy these guidelines as a matter of course as
well as meeting the statutory minimum requirements of the Building Regulations.
In addition to the UDL, point loads of various natures may be applied to the floor. They
may be temporary (the wheel of a hand pallet truck), semi permanent (the foot of a
stillage) or permanent (the foot of a rack).
Each type of flooring material will be able to support different point loads, and should
be specified to suit the anticipated use of the structure.
For example if a mezzanine floor is to be used for office use, it must be designed to
accommodate a minimum uniformly distributed live load capacity of 3.5kN per square
metre.
If loads are likely to be high, it is a false economy to under specify load capacity,
particularly if trucks or trolleys are to be used, as overloading will cause the structure to
deflect excessively and may make it impossible to move heavy trolleys.
In addition to design for live loading, dead loading of the structure itself and any applied
services and building finishes need to be considered, particular attention being paid if
they are out of the ordinary.
In addition to the UDL, point loads of various natures may be applied to the floor. They
may be temporary (the wheel of a hand pallet truck), semi permanent (the foot of a
stillage) or permanent (the foot of a rack).
Each type of flooring material will be able to support different point loads, and
should be specified to suit the anticipated use of the structure.
For example if a mezzanine floor is to be used for office use, it must be designed to
accommodate a minimum uniformly distributed live load capacity of 3.5kN per square
metre.
If loads are likely to be high, it is a false economy to under specify load capacity,
particularly if trucks or trolleys are to be used, as overloading will cause the structure to
deflect excessively and may make it impossible to move heavy trolleys.
In addition to design for live loading, dead loading of the structure itself and any applied
services and building finishes need to be considered, particular attention being paid if
they are out of the ordinary.
By designing to a ‘most economic column grid’, popular section sizes are used
and sized to obtain maximum benefit from their structural characteristics.
The design is therefore focused on providing a structure that meets minimum statutory
requirements at the lowest possible cost at the expense of any other elements of a
client’s design brief. A design using a most economic grid will therefore display maximum
movement and deflection and will have columns positioned most economically without
any consideration of their impact on the use of space below the structure.
Such a solution can sometimes be exactly what is required, however more often than not
column positioning is significant to the client’s efficient use of space below the mezzanine
and requires consideration.
A mezzanine floor designed with a most economic grid may restrict a manufacturing
operation, or result in wasted space below the structure the long term cost of which can
far outweigh an initial investment in optimal design.
As large as the client needs, however as clear spans increase so does cost since the
weight of the main steel sections increases, and of the necessary supporting columns.
Slab considerations come into play as larger spans imply high axial column loads,
and potential groundwork requirements.
Practical considerations include the transportation of long beams to site, 15m being
the maximum achievable on an articulated trailer without using specialised transport.
A mezzanine can, if the surrounding building fabric is suited, be built into the
existing structure avoiding the introduction of any new columns.
Most typical mezzanine floors are slab supported – that is they are supported on
columns that have base plates through which the loads from the floor are dispersed via
the concrete slab and hardcore to the subsoil below.
Exceptionally, if the loads being applied to the floor are very high and/or the spans
between columns are large, then the high loads being applied to the slab may be too
great for standard design, and enlarged baseplates, spreader beams or mass
foundations may be required.
Dimensions of base plates are site dependent, in that they will vary depending upon the
thickness of the concrete floor slab, the steel reinforcement within the concrete, the
thickness of the hardcore and the type of subsoil below.
This is why suppliers will quote a price typically based upon a 300mm x 300mm square
base plate, as slab and subsoil information is seldom available at quotation stage.
If larger plates are required in order to adequately distribute load over a poor quality slab,
or subsoil with a low load bearing capacity, then these are usually chargeable as an
extra cost.
Building Control may accept slab and subsoil details from the construction of the
building if they are available in O&M manuals or organisational records. Alternatively
conservative assumptions may be acceptable or trial holes may need to be undertaken
by the client to obtain accurate information so that baseplates can be sized.
If baseplates are located in a walkway and are large in order to distribute load over a
poor slab, then they can be a hazard. Surface mounted plates can be fitted with
countersunk fixings and have chamfered edges to minimise the hazard. A screed can
be laid over the whole area to conceal the base plates.
Base plates can also be lost in pockets cut in the existing concrete slab, and backfilled
with a high performance self levelling grout. This has the benefit of eliminating changes of
level.Where an office layout is planned, special baseplates can be designed that become
lost in partitions.
Yes, possibly, as long as the building structure itself has sufficient spare capacity to
accommodate the additional loads that will be applied to it, and the mezzanine can
be designed to satisfactorily tie in with the existing structure.
Building Regulations are more demanding under these circumstances, and extra
care should be taken to liaise with the building inspector to ensure that he is satisfied
with proposals prior to commencement of work.
The installation of a mezzanine floor is relatively straight forward, however even with
very small projects, relevant training, experience and the right tools and equipment
make it a faster and safer exercise when undertaken by a competent, skilled
installation team.
What Equipment is
Required to Install a
Mezzanine Floor?
On all but the smallest or specialised projects a fork lift truck will be required to unload
materials from the delivery vehicle and to lift materials during construction. If the site
conditions do not permit this then consideration of alternative lifting equipment such as
cranes must be considered. A gas powered counterbalance truck capable of lifting 2
tonnes to the finished floor level plus 300mm is usually adequate. If spare gas bottles are
being stored, a clearly labelled secure mesh storage cage will be required on site.
On small projects a HIAB crane offload combined with trolley and Genie lift may suffice.
Access to the structure whilst bolting together can be achieved using podium steps,
scaffold towers or scissor lifts depending upon working heights in order to ensure the
safety of installation teams.
Scaffold towers, fall restraint safety harnesses, fall arrest mesh or airbags and edge
protection should be used to protect operatives engaged in leading edge operations
during the laying of decking materials.
Laser levels, measures, stand up collated screw guns, nut runners and circular saw are
essential, either battery or 110V (in which case transformers and leads will be required).
All operatives should hold appropriate certification and training for plant and
equipment that they use and for health and safety.
In these circumstances it is vital that the installation area is kept out of bounds
to all personnel other than installation staff during installation.
Installation of a mezzanine floor is impractical above or adjacent to any area where
people are working, or a thoroughfare unless steps have been made to isolate the
installation zone and prevent client’s staff access.
Building owners, users or managing agents having maintenance, small scale building
work or minor works carried out in connection with a business are clients with legal
duties under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015.
Most mezzanine floor installations will therefore fall within the scope of the regulations.
The purpose of the regulations is to ensure that Health and Safety is adequately
addressed at project inception, and managed throughout the project with
responsibilities of all parties clearly defined.
If more than one contractor will be involved, the Client has responsibility for appointing a
Principle Designer and a Principle Contractor in writing.
The Principle Designer should be appointed as early as possible to gather information
about the project, plan, manage and coordinate planning and design work to ensure it
can be built safely.
The Principle Contractor should be appointed as early as possible to plan, manage and
coordinate the construction work and liaise with the Principle Designer.
Principle Designers and Contractors should have the skills, knowledge and experience
to identify, reduce and manage health and safety risks, be competent and have
adequate resources allocated to the proposed project.
In practice some these roles can be combined, however the regulations clearly set out
the responsibilities of the parties.
Mezzanine floor contractors should have a working knowledge of the regulations and
may be able to fulfil some or all of the roles, or be able to advise clients of suitable
professional consultants to undertake these roles.
A headline cost per square metre is relatively meaningless as there are so many
variables involved and a clear understanding is required of which costs are included.
Buying solely on the basis of a low cost per square metre is ill advised unless the
application is extremely undemanding and you have low expectations.
Quoted costs per square metre may exclude necessary staircases, hand railing,
delivery, installation, and are likely to assume a most economic grid and low load
bearing capacity, low deflection limits.
For accurate costing a detailed specification of works will always be required.
A second hand mezzanine that can be viewed in situ, is of adequate load capacity for
the new application, and has the benefit of its original drawings, calculations and
certification, that can be dismantled, transported to a new site and re-erected by the
same experienced team without reconfiguration should provide a cost saving.
The main saving achieved is therefore the cost of the steelwork, against which the cost
of dismantling has to be set. If the mezzanine has to be transported to a different site
for temporary storage or rework then additional transport handling and rework costs
must also be offset against the saving on steelwork cost. Any alterations should be
undertaken by a fabricator with BS EN1090-1 Execution Class 2 certification.
If a significant amount of site alteration is required to make the second hand mezzanine
floor suit a new site, then it can swiftly become uneconomic to consider this as an
option. If, for example, the floor is too low, some steels are too long or the load capacity
is unsuited then some steelwork will either need to be double handled to rework it off
site, or will need to be reworked on site by a certificated fabricator posing associated
risks (is the site insured for hot works?).
A professional supplier will provide an impartial opinion for a fee and may be
willing to undertake dismantling and relocation.
A professional mezzanine floor supplier will guide clients through the process of
specification of their mezzanine floor.
This can be a time consuming process, however the benefit of using a mezzanine specialist
is that they have constant day to day applications and problem solving experience in many
environments which can be applied to the clients project, whereas a construction or
architectural designer will have less in depth experience of working with mezzanine floors.
This package can be used as a basis for tendering the mezzanine floor work. The fee is
subsequently refunded if the supplier who develops the specification tenders
successfully.
In our experience, time and effort spent planning a mezzanine purchase maximises
our client’s investment return and has the potential to reward them many times over
by optimising efficiency.
• Check uniformly distributed and point load capacities, ensure that deflection
parameters match needs.
• Check that vertical dimensional requirements are met – clear headroom, finished floor
level, construction depth allowing for any necessary ceiling/service voids and
clearances, any need to match height to existing structures.
• Confirm that the same design parameters have been applied in all proposals. Be aware
that the most economic design will satisfy minimum statutory requirements but can be
depended upon to provide maximum deflection and minimum rigidity; will this meet your
needs?
• Have any special considerations been allowed for such as recessed footplates or
extra deckbeams located to distribute point loads or racking.
• Have the same accessories been included such as stairs, handrails, kickplate,
pallet safety gates, and do their quantities and specifications match?
Having ensured that a specification that accurately reflects your requirements has
been developed and can be met by your prospective suppliers,
• Establish whether the cost of provision, delivery and collection of suitable
handling and access equipment, gas bottle storage, disposal of waste materials,
site surveys, structural drawings and calculations, building regulations application
and inspection fees are included in proposals, and if not make appropriate
adjustments.
• Establish at which point each supplier’s quoted delivery timescale commences, and
how it may vary dependant upon manufacturing and installation capacity. Can they
demonstrate a record of consistently achieving target delivery dates and
programmes?
• Assess whether the project comes within the scope of the CDM 2015 regulations and
if so, establish whether the proposed supplier is capable of undertaking the necessary
roles, or whether other parties need to be engaged in order to meet your obligations.
• Have all costs associated with CDM compliance been included in proposals?
• Assess prospective suppliers health and safety management and obtain a copy of
their health and safety policy. Ask to be provided with risk assessments and method
statements.
Once a specification has been drawn up, competitive quotations can be obtained
and prospective suppliers assessed.
When comparing proposals, take regard of intangibles and their value to you.
For example prompt delivery - a delivery delay may be insignificant to one business, to
another it could lead to massive consequential loss, making timing and duration of
contract fulfilment far more significant than marginal capital cost saving to the second
business.
Likewise payment terms – a cheaper price negotiated on the basis of a larger deposit
is of little comfort if the proposed supplier disappears or goes bust.