6,000 Tonne Fabric Storage Building for South Shields Council
A site nobody would envy
South Shields Council came to Eurodome needing covered storage for 6,000 tonnes of bulk material. The site available for it was not an easy one.
Ground conditions were poor, bearing capacity varied across the plot, and the whole thing sat on a steep natural slope.
A fabric building itself goes up quickly. The hard part here was everything underneath it. The foundations had to carry serious storage loads on ground that could not be trusted to do the job on its own.
Eurodome's solution
With a challenge like this, the groundwork had to come first. There was no point putting a building up until the foundations could take the load, so we started below the surface and worked up from there, delivering the full structural package as one job:
Piling works to create a stable, reliable foundation
A reinforced concrete floor slab engineered to work alongside the ground improvement strategy and take the full storage load
Reinforced concrete retaining and perimeter walls
The complete fabric building superstructure, including the roof
The piling layout, slab design and structure were engineered together rather than handled as separate packages. On a site like this, that integration is what makes the building perform.
For a project like this, a fabric building was the right choice. Storing 6,000 tonnes of bulk material calls for a large clear span with no internal columns getting in the way of loaders and stockpiles, and a fabric building gives you exactly that. It goes up fast once the groundworks are done, and it costs considerably less than a steel or concrete permanent build. On a difficult, sloping site, the lighter structure also puts less demand on the foundations, which matters when the ground is already the hard part.
Six thousand tonnes, covered
The council now has a durable, high-capacity fabric storage building holding up to 6,000 tonnes of material, delivered to programme on ground that would have ruled out an off-the-shelf approach. One contractor, one programme, from foundations to finished roof.
The finished building on site:
Bulk storage buildings from a specialist, not a supplier
Eurodome has designed, manufactured and installed bulk storage buildings for over 40 years, with more than 180 structures standing across the UK and Ireland.
What made the difference on this project is what makes the difference on every one: we deliver the whole package ourselves, from piling and groundworks through to the finished building, so nothing falls between contractors and difficult sites get engineered properly rather than worked around.
We are CHAS Gold, Constructionline Gold, IPAF and ISO 9001 accredited, which is why highway authorities, councils and major contractors keep coming back. If your site has awkward ground, tight access or a deadline that will not move, take a look at our fabric buildings or request a quote and we'll talk through your project with you.