Optimus House Thales Fabrication and Construction

Project: Optimus House, Thales

Client: Morgan Sindall Construction

Tonnage: Tonnes

Location: Templecombe

Snashall Steel completed the drawing, fabrication and erection of the new 155-meter-long Optimus House building for Thales, to expand their current manufacturing facilities at the Templecombe site.

A major part of the building is the trusses supporting the roof. These span over 30 meters, due to this size the decision was taken to splice them into 3 sections allowing for easier fabrication and transportation. Another significant feature of the frame is the overhead crane rails with the tracks for these cranes welded onto the top flange of the beam. These run almost the entire length of the building which allow for the cranes to be installed and run along them when in use.

Because of the building's length movement joints had to be incorporated in 2 positions to allow for some tolerance. These consisted of slotted connections with shoulder bolts to provide to desired tolerance. Due to the size of the building, there is a very large amount of cold rolled steel to allow for the fixing of cladding.

On the side of one of the long elevations is a 30-meter-long office block again fully covered in cold rolled steel. Into this office block, there is a Pedestrian link to allow access to the building.