DTE recently designed and supplied the roof system for the renovation project at Kingussie Courthouse. The roof system was comprised of standard roof trusses, glulaminated roof frames and columns.
Morgan Sindall was the main contractor appointed by Highland Council to carry out the conversion of the existing listed building into office space, as well as erect an extension to the building. DTE’s Buckhaven branch was selected to supply roof trusses, which were designed in-house and manufactured in Buckhaven. The development’s feature roof frames and columns were designed by The Gordon Farquharson Partnership and supplied by Kingston Craftsmen. Both the standard and feature frames were required to plane through and as such, accurate design and manufacturing were key elements of the project.
As the roof pitch was 50°, the overall truss height fell above the transport height limit of four metres and the trusses needed to be split into two parts. Due to a tight budget, the truss designer proposed a piggyback truss instead of utilising field splice plates. The glulaminated feature frames were supplied loose and assembled on site by Morgan Sindall.
"The technical design aspects of this project were not as innovative as some we have worked on, but it was an effort that required a lot of close collaboration with multiple parties. There were many factors to consider, including Morgan Sindall’s delivery and installation timelines, ensuring our designs matched precisely with those for the feature trusses, and that the manufacturers were also ready to meet those timescales."
Rodger Cook, general manager of DTE Buckhaven
“We also provided a cost-saving solution by designing a piggyback truss, which is a standard design technique, but not one very commonly utilised. Although we weren’t supplying the entire roof structure, we do look at the project as a whole and endeavour to provide the most complete and cost-effective options for the customer.”