Building Big: How Customizable Steel Buildings Work on an Industrial Scale
A steel building can work for a number of industries including forest, oil and gas, water and sewage treatment, and energy production such as electrical dams.
When looking to build a facility for an industrial purpose, you need to know it will be strong and flexible to handle all manner of operations. It needs to be able to fit all necessary equipment and machinery and not be susceptible to any chemicals or other elements that may be present on site. It also needs to meet safety and building codes.
That’s where steel buildings can help. Made with one of the strongest industrial materials on earth, they can be designed and built to fit a number of industrial applications, including:
- Oil and gas plants
- Water and sewage treatment
- Sawmills and other forestry-related operations
- Dams
Structural appeal with structural steel
The bones of an industrial structure usually need to be fortified with stronger materials than those used in a conventional building. That’s where a structural steel frame tops the heap. The beams and columns manufactured by a structural steel company can be built to have longer spans and are braced to provide stability.
Industrial strength
The strength and durability of steel is one of the main reasons it is used is so many industrial building applications. As a building material, steel is flexible but can still withstand a hammering. It is also:
- Ductile
- Pliable
- Malleable
- Tensile
Design flexibility with a pre engineered steel building
This is where a pre engineered steel building makes all the difference. Often industrial operations need a large interior space for equipment and machinery, while office and storage space may also be required. The flexibility in design is what sets these buildings apart. They can be customized to have higher-than-normal height variances to fit equipment such as cranes, and can also feature clear spans for warehousing or storage building needs, or for a piping to convey fluids if it is a treatment plant or dam. The possibilities are endless.
Safety before all else
There are a lot of things that need to be kept in mind when it comes to installing large-scale steel buildings for industrial operations. There’s the budget and application process, where the structural design needs to be presented along with all the environmental, seismic and engineering reports.
But most importantly, the building itself needs to be built to withstand a number of hazards and also provide a safe working environment for employees and to those located near the facility.
With the proper insulation, ventilation, and coatings, pre engineered buildings made from steel are:
- Fireproof
- Non-corrosive
- Mould and rot resistant
- Soundproof
- Wind and lightning resistant
- Seismically sound
To learn more, read our Case Study on how Metal Structure Concepts provided a customized pre engineered steel building for a treatment plant in the Comox Valley.
MSC’s experienced field crews are ticketed and safety certified to work in a variety of industrial settings. We’ve developed a reputation across Western Canada for quality, safety, and reliability when delivering on-time projects for mill sites, oil and gas plants, and other industrial applications.