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BETTER & FASTER HOUSING FOR BUSH FIRE AREAS
STEEL FRAME EXPO HIGHLIGHTS QUICK RESPONSE
20/10/09
At the Steel Frame Building Expo being staged at Yarraville in Melbourne this
week, many questions reflect the recent trauma of Victoria’s devastating bush
fires.
Community concern for the speed of housing replacement in burned out areas
and the sort of housing that should best replace those destroyed, has frequently
prompted the following questions:--
“How much faster can we put houses up with new steel framing techniques?”
“Are steel frames better in bush fire prone areas than traditional wooden
frames?”
QUICK RESPONSE
FRAMECAD’s™
Mobile Factory provides a completely self-contained mobile steel
frame fabrication factory which could be a solution to emergency relief and
sustainable reconstruction following natural disasters like bush fires.
It’s housed in a modified 20 foot (6.1m) shipping container
and is easily
transported. FRAMECAD™ Mobile Factory can be airlifted into virtually any
location and made operational within 24 hours.
With its own diesel generator and computer-operated steel frame fabricating
machine, the Mobile Factory can manufacture precision engineered framing at a
rate of 700 metres per hour, allowing construction of structures such as hospitals
relief centres and homes to begin immediately and proceed quickly.
FRAMECAD™ Global Marketing Manager, Ms Natasha Urlich, says that while the
speed at which the Mobile Factory can be deployed is an important advantage,
there are many other benefits, particularly in remote areas.
“Recent experience in Victoria suggests that there remains a seriously unfilled
need for the manufacturing of structures in burned out areas. With FRAMECAD™
these can be produced and assembled much more quickly than traditional frames.
“Production is computer controlled and every piece of framing produced is
numbered and coded so it can be easily assembled on site.”
FIRE RESISTANCE
Steel frames are obviously fireproof. Integrated into houses designed to resist
fire, FRAMECAD™
frames promote the overall fire resistance and, importantly,
the structural integrity of the house during a fire.
There are many other advantages to steel frames which suite rural and remote
areas including:--
cheaper to construct
lightweight to erect
lightweight and compact to transport (i.e. assembled on site)
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termite proof, non-warping, non-twisting, water/rain proof and galvanised
safer to construct (i.e. less OH&S concerns than establishing traditional wood
frames with nail guns etc)
100% recyclable with a lower carbon footprint than wooden frames.
Background:
The FRAMECAD™ Mobile Factory, which was developed and
manufactured in New Zealand, was unveiled and is operating for demonstration in
Melbourne this week at a Steel Frame Building Expo at Yarraville from October
19-23.
There will be two presentations each day at 10:00am and 5:30pm
The Expo is open to anyone associated with the building industry and will be held
at Denim Park, 341 Francis Street, Yarraville in Melbourne.
More Expo information:
Those interested in attending should contact Peter
Blythe at peterb@framecad.com or at +61 419 101 639.
Media: David Park parkyoung 0418 159-231 or media@parkyoung.com.au
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