Residential Outbuilding in Mustique, Carribbean

This was an international affair with the architects from London, the engineers from America and the final project in the Carribbean. My role was as the steelwork detailer for Apex Steel Structures who facilitated the fabrication, transport and erection of this project. “Made in Essex, built in Mustique.” is a phrase i’m not sure has been said very many times, but it happened and we pulled it off flawlessly. The main rafters are fabricated from 20mm plate and just shy of 11m long, the profile itself tapers radially from 150-350mm. The 176mm purlins only protrude above the rafter line by 50mm to keep the entire roof sleek and thin, however, this meant that each purlin had to start/stop at every steel member requiring some ingenious connection design. Something to note regarding the purlin design is that they are spaced at almost half the general recommended spacing to withstand the hurricane force winds that seasonally whip around the islands. Additionally, even with the uncommon inset purlins, each one was still “standard” to run through Metsec’s machine lines properly. The whole structure was packaged in 2 No. shipping containers and was met in Mustique by a small gang of our erectors (lucky bunch!).