After more than 20 years, the fabric structures are as they were on the first day
Eleven Best Hall fabric-covered buildings protect the products of Johann Pabst Holzindustrie from the weather. What began with one 660-m²-big hall in 2000 now includes three locations and almost 2 hectares of storage space. Thus, the first buildings have lasted twice the ten-year quality guarantee – without requiring any maintenance work or showing signs of wear.
Often, it is difficult to accurately describe something that feels like it has always been there, requires no maintenance and serves its purpose perfectly even after decades. This is also true for the Best Hall fabric-covered buildings of the Styrian company Johann Pabst Holzindustrie. Between 2000 and 2010, the family business built eleven column-free fabric structures for the storage of lumber, planed timber and raw laminations for glulam. Since then, the steel structures covered with a special PVC membrane have protected the kiln-dried wood products from the weather without needing maintenance or repair work.
“At the time, the fact that the halls can be moved easily if necessary and don’t require concrete foundations were decisive factors for us,” managing director Reinhard Pabst recalls, listing two central advantages of the fabric-covered halls compared to halls with other structures.
For assembly, Best-Hall developed special anchors, which make it possible to fasten large buildings without concrete foundations. “This saves our customers time and also money, which is one of the key advantages of our fabric-covered buildings,” Marcus Green, representative of the Finnish company in Austria, explains.
Prefabricated in Finland, a 1,500-m²-big hall can be assembled in around two weeks. The customer only has to provide an asphalted area.
For Günter Macher, who is responsible for technology and investment projects at Pabst, flexibility is another advantage of the halls. “We were always able to create the storage capacities exactly where they were needed.” Specifically, these capacities are distributed among eleven 660 to 2,160-m²-big buildings at three locations in Obdach and Zeltweg.
Smooth surfaces
According to Green, two factors are important when it comes to the frame: stability and surface quality. Best-Hall uses pipe profiles made of high-strength S420 structural steel and is constantly further developing its surface coating. Using the assembly site as a basis, the Finnish company calculates the wind force and snow load for each project. Column-free spans of up to 80 m available as standard –with a snow load of up to 700 kg/m².
“Surfaces that are too rough, such as those created during hot-dip galvanizing, can damage the membrane over the long term,” Green explains. To avoid this, Best-Hall used to rely on an epoxy resin coating. Today, it relies on powder-coated steel structures. “The powder-coated steel makes our frames as smooth as a car’s bodywork and also extremely resistant to damage during assembly,” Green emphasizes.
High-quality fabric
Best-Hall put at least as much development work into the patented PVC fabric as it did into the frame. Before the PVC layer is applied, the fabric is not only pre-tensioned in the transverse direction, as is usual, but also in the longitudinal direction. According to Green, the two-dimensional tension makes the applied PVC layer three times thicker than conventional fabrics, which significantly increases the service life of the halls. In combination with the smooth steel frame structure, Best-Hall estimates the lifespan of the membrane to be at least 30 years.
For halls with a floor area of up to 100 by 50 m, the Finnish company delivers the membranes for the walls and ceiling in one piece, which not only reduces assembly times but also helps avoid potential errors. Best-Hall also makes the fabric translucent in the roof area to allow natural daylight to enter.
As they were on the first day
For Pabst, a stable indoor climate is an important factor in the storage of lumber and laminations for glulam. “The moisture content of the wood mustn’t change during storage,” Macher emphasizes. For this purpose, Best-Hall equips its buildings with fans which are connected to a barometer. “This way, we can regulate the climate in the otherwise completely windproof and waterproof halls and avoid the formation of condensation,” Macher says about the advantages of the system.
Almost 15 to 25 years after they were assembled, the Best-Hall halls fulfill their purpose just as they did on the first day: “We haven’t had any defects yet – and didn’t need any maintenance and repair work.”
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