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A multi-storey frame, as we build it
Grid, storeys and loads are set by your design; this six-storey frame is an example. What we show is how each member is made and joined.
Scroll to see how it is built · drag to turn it round
Multi-storey steel buildings
Steel frames that go up bolted.
Built-up columns and beams, drilled and milled in our works, shipped numbered and bolted up level by level on site.
Why steel
No longer only for process plants.
Multi-storey steel frames were long used mainly in process and chemical plants. Today they are used widely for buildings: a steel and concrete composite frame that performs well in earthquakes.
Because the members arrive drilled and finished, the site work is mostly bolting, and the structure rises far faster than cast-in-situ concrete. Floors and cladding follow the frame.
0levels in one bolted structure we built
0of PEB for one factory
0deepest beam our drill line takes
0robotic welding bed
Explore the model
How a steel building is built.
Scroll: the camera moves to each part in turn. Hover a machine to see where it is used.
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Columns in two-storey lifts
Built-up H columns in lifts of 2 storeys, sized to fabricate, ship and erect, with base plates and anchors at the foot.
How is it possible at Allmarc?
Used here for: Columns in two-storey lifts
- Plates matched and tack-welded
- Automatic feed and stitch welding
- H and I sections built from plate
Used here for: Columns in two-storey lifts
- Full-penetration welds on built-up sections
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Spliced above the floor
Bolted flange and web cover plates about 600 mm above the floor, where a fitter can reach them from the deck below. Ends are milled square so the splice bears evenly.
How is it possible at Allmarc?
Used here for: Spliced above the floor
- Mills beam and column ends square for bolted splices
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Beams on every grid line
Primary beams on every grid line and secondaries at mid-bay, each drilled for its connections on the CNC beam line.
How is it possible at Allmarc?
Used here for: Beams on every grid line
- H-beams up to 1,000 x 500 mm
- Drills 3 faces in one pass
- Channels, angles and box sections
Heavy profiles that need precise holes, where plasma cannot do the job: the lower structure and panel borders of a ground flare, and every bolted PEB and multi-storey frame.
All our machinery05 / 08
Fin plates, bolted on site
Fin plates are cut, drilled and welded to the columns in our works; on site each beam is simply bolted to them.
How is it possible at Allmarc?
Used here for: Fin plates, bolted on site
- 12 kW
- Cuts up to 40 mm
- 2,500 x 8,000 mm bed
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Braced bays
Hollow-section bracing with gusset plates carries wind and seismic load down the braced bays.
How is it possible at Allmarc?
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Floors follow the frame
Once a level is bolted, the metal deck goes down and the concrete topping makes the composite floor that ties it together.
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Every part, apart
Columns, splices, beams, connections, bracing and bases: the kit of parts that leaves our works.
How we build them
From plate to a bolted frame.
Your design
Structural design and connection details are yours or your consultant’s. We check fabrication drawings against them and raise questions before steel is cut.
Non-uniform sections on the robot
Tapered and non-uniform members are welded on the Cloos robot, whose tandem torch melts two wires at once for speed and deep penetration.
Cloos robotic welding centre
Drilled and slotted, not burned
Every connection hole and slot is drilled on the Kotec CNC beam line, 3 faces at a time, so frames bolt up without reaming on site.
Kotec newRun10DX CNC beam drilling lineEnds milled square
Column and beam ends are milled square on the SKDX1030 end-face mill, so splices bear evenly.
SKDX1030 CNC end-face millingBlasted and painted in the works
Long members go through the 15 m paint booth; a conveyor blasting line for long sections is being added.
Blasting and painting booths
Numbered, shipped, bolted
Members leave marked for the erection sequence. On site the frame is bolted up level by level; floors and cladding follow.
Where they are used
One method, many buildings.
01Process and chemical plants
Multi-level structures carrying equipment and piping.
02Factories and warehouses
Mezzanines, multi-level production and storage.
03Commercial and residential
Steel and concrete composite frames for buildings of many storeys.
04Car parks and utility buildings
Repetitive bays that suit a bolted frame.
Steel or concrete
What changes on site.
The work moves from the site into our works, where it can be controlled.
Speed
Members arrive finished; erection is bolting, level by level, as fast as the crane can set them.
Earthquake performance
Steel frames are ductile, and a steel and concrete composite frame performs well under seismic load.
Accuracy
Holes drilled on CNC, ends milled square, members trial-fitted where needed: fit-up is settled in the works.
A cleaner site
Less formwork, less wet work and fewer trades working at height at the same time.
Projects
All projectsBuilt and bolted.
Start a project
Send us a drawing
Planning a steel building?
Send the structural drawings and an engineer will tell you how we would fabricate it and what it would take.