Feature Industrial flooring Industrial floors: the right steps
Floors in warehouses are the key construction element in the building, and yet tenants still sign up to long term full repairing leases on buildings with floors which are in appalling condition. Expert in the measurement and control of industrial concrete floors, Face Consultants, looks at how to avoid the pitfalls involved
The advice from Face Consultants to prospective warehouse tenants is to seek advice from experts to make sure floors are not passed serviceable life
O
ne of the services of Face Consultants is to carry out surveys and provide due dili- gence reports for property acquisitions or lease agreements. These are usually referred to as ‘Condition Surveys’ when taking on a lease and as ‘Dilapidation Surveys’ when handing back the building.
Avoiding the pitfalls
The first and foremost step is to ensure that the floor is surveyed by a compe- tent engineer / surveyor before entering into a lease. The engineer will walk straight past the recently smartened up entrance offices and other facilities to get to the functional heart of the build- ing - the warehouse and its floor. It is surprising that some tenants ar willing to enter into leases without exercising due diligence and yet the
Eco-friendly sweeper-scrubber T
cost of doing so in respect to the floor can be no more than one would expect to pay for a survey on a house.
What you need from a floor The floor must be structurally sound, that is to say, thick enough and with sufficient reinforcement to take the loads, particularly from storage racking and forklifts. The surface must be hard and durable and not given to dusting. Cracks may or may not be a problem and need to be checked out. The weak- est parts of a floor are the joints. If these are very wide and broken down, then they need attention. Cracking and broken slab edges can be signs of prob- lems below the floor, in which case a ground investigation may be needed. In addition, the floor should be flat enough for the intended use, particu- larly if racking is to be installed.
What to look for?
A newly painted floor should be treated with great caution. Floor paint is commonly used to superficially smarten up a floor in the probably cor- rect belief that it will help in the let- ting of the building. At worst it may be covering up a multitude of problems, at best, the tenant will inherit a main- tenance issue.
Checking out the floor before enter- ing into the lease is vital. But so is checking out the terms of the lease. Dilapidation clauses seem in some cases to be heavily weighted against tenants, giving landlords unlimited freedom of action in determining what is required for remediation at the end of a lease. In a recent case, an entire floor in an old warehouse was replaced at the outgoing tenants cost, on the basis that it was no longer fit for purpose. Like all structural elements, even well maintained floors have a limited useful life after which maintenance and repair becomes impractical. It seems unlikely that an outgoing tenant could be expected to provide a completely new building but could be expected to replace the entire floor, which is a fun- damental part of the building. Surely this is the landlord’s problem and cer- tainly something for the prospective tenant’s legal advisors to think about. The message for prospective tenants is simple, both legal and engineering advice is needed if costly pitfalls related to warehouse and distribution centre floors are to be avoided.
Face Consultants T: 01484 600090
www.face-consultants.com Enter 317
he Hybrid combination sweeper- scrubber, the Nilfisk CS7000, is being acclaimed for its ecological cre- dentials in the warehouse
sector.The unit is available in three models: LPG-Hybrid, Diesel-Hybrid and ePower Battery and was designed to reduce the cost of oper- ation, labour and maintenance, whilst
effectively increasing fuel economy and runtime efficiency. The CS7000 utilises state of the art electric drive technology enabling
reduced emissions with the LPG and Diesel models and emission free indoor operation with the E Power technology on the battery models. The electric Hybrid technology means that the engine drives a large alternator to generate electricity and a 36 volt battery pack provides energy storage. This Hybrid system provides for up to 30 per cent fuel saving. Sweeping and scrubbing functions ensure that debris remains dry
without introducing scrub solution or water into the debris hopper. Nilfisk T: 01768 868995
www.nilfisk.co.uk
20 Enter 318
Static dissipative flooring protects components F
inder SpA has employed a range of ultra-modern technology in its new electronics manufacturing facility in Almese, Italy, including innovative electrostatic discharge (ESD) protective flooring. The new department will house the production of printed circuit boards, and the assembly of products that use them – such as timers, monitoring relays and energy-saving lighting control products.
Finder has adopted measures to protect components against electrostatic discharge (ESD), ensuring that any ESD voltage is limited to less than 100V. The company has been able to create an Electrostatic Protected Area (EPA) due to its innovative static dissipative flooring. Discharge current levels that would otherwise be damaging to electronic components are avoided through dissipation under ‘controlled’ conditions. This flooring system enables operators to move freely throughout the entire area using suitable anti-static equipment while visitors can access the departments along the dedicated routes. After checking the resistance of the person/shoe with respect to the floor, personnel are authorised to handle ESDS (electrostatic discharge sensitive) devices directly without a grounding wrist strap. Finder
T: 01785 818100
www.findernet.com
Enter 319 JANUARY 2013 Factory Equipment
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56