METFRAME – SAFE, SUSTAINABLE, SPEEDIER AND COST SAVING

What is Metframe?

Metframe is Metsec’s pre-panelised system which is used to provide the load-bearing structure of up to 15 storeys high. This BIM compliant system uses the studs in the same way as load-bearing SFS, except they are bolted together offsite to form panels giving offsite manufacturing accuracy.

Fabrication of individual steel pieces takes place offsite under controlled, highly-regulated, safe factory conditions; digital design and leading-edge fabrication systems deliver precision-engineered components with minimum waste.

Multiple benefits

Offsite framing techniques are playing their part in delivering this vision, with the numerous benefits ranging from cost; space; speed; health and safety; quality, and sustainability.

Cost: savings are achieved through waste reduction and the speed of build that the system allows, with offsite framing structures, such as Metframe, regularly taking less than two weeks per floor to construct. This allows other trades to enter the site and carry out their role.

Space: on construction projects where access and space are limited – due to the proximity of other buildings or natural features – offsite framing offers a practical and safe solution.

Speed: offsite framing projects are programmed and constructed around 20 per cent to 30 per cent faster than traditional construction, which allows tight deadlines to be met more easily, while disruption to clients and the local community is minimised – a particular benefit in the case of a school or hospital.

Health and safety: the factory environment of offsite construction eliminates the variables of weather and visibility, and hazards such as falls from height and equipment accidents.

Sustainability: this is at the forefront of offsite framing systems such as Metframe, which offer zero waste and a low carbon footprint.

Work in the factory can be scheduled to start at the same time as the site is being prepared, so the two processes can occur in parallel, resulting in an accelerated build programme.

Offsite construction generates up to 90 per cent less waste than site-based building methods (Source: WRAP), while there are up to 90 per cent fewer vehicle movements on site, compared to a traditional construction project – reducing noise, dust, congestion and carbon emissions (Source: Mtech).

Quality: stringent factory-quality control, better working conditions and automation mean offsite-fabricated elements are made to a higher quality than the site-fabricated equivalent. Metframe also has high performance fire, acoustic and thermal benefits and uses concrete flooring to further enhance acoustics.