Warehouse Expansion For Westcoast Computers

The Challenge

Westcoast has occupied its current warehousing facility in Reading for a long period of time with the business experiencing exponential growth year on year. They needed to take on new product lines and the only solution for the business was to undertake a warehouse expansion to increase its product range to satisfy customer demand.

The Solution

Westcoast realised they needed to expand their storage facilities and looked at alternatives ranging from narrow aisle pallet racking through to shuttle systems. Due to the nature of their business Westcoast handle a large portfolio of different products and sizes, so they needed a flexible solution which also facilitated the need to expand the pick and pack operation.

After a detailed consultation process, STS Storage systems narrowed down the options to a two-tier Mezzanine Floor as this would offer the most flexible solution for the warehouse expansion.

STS Storage got to work to ascertain the relevant slab load which was the key defining element, in this instance this was a piled construction due to its close proximity to a water table. A number of Geo-Technical tests were conducted, and relevant consultation was made to the landlord’s surveyors and the consultant engineer who was responsible for the originally constructed slab design. Following this exacting process, STS Storage were able to site the mezzanine columns on the pile caps.

Once the design criteria had been frozen following the application with building control we were able to commence the build of the 1500m2 two-tier mezzanine floor complete with fire rating, goods lift and security mesh to each level.

As part of the build the client wanted a single contractor, so STS was able to complete the whole project and cover off the Construction Design & Management (CDM) responsibilities.

In addition to the construction, STS Storage installed power to the workbenches as well as an energy-saving LED lighting system for the mezzanine levels.

How We Achieved It!