Application: Rooftop extension

Owner: IIT Madras

Location: Chennai

Structure: Rooftop extension on six (hostel) buildings

Area: 10,140 sq m

Project requirement: IIT Madras houses over 12,000 inhabitants. To increase the number of student occupants, the management decided to build on top of its existing boys’ hostels, which are 55-year-old RCC buildings. The management preferred to use a light-gauge framing system.

Timeline: Tata BlueScope Steel completed the project in the mandated 100 days.

Challenges: “To meet the challenging timeline, we speeded up the design of the structural members and material supply, and ensured adequate resources on hand, including a skilled construction and installation team,” says Piyush Nahar, General Manager, Marketing, Tata BlueScope Steel. “Safety concerns included the risk of working at a considerable height, and removing the existing parapet and RCC solar pedestal. We installed a 3-m safety net to curtail accidents, installed scaffolding from the ground to the third floor and carefully planned the removal of the solar panels to ensure minimum damage to the existing roof structure. Working without disturbing operations was another challenge. We are happy to report that we caused no upheaval to the curriculum of students.”

Products used: Smartbuild (light-gauge framing system) with Lysaght Trimdek from Tata BlueScope Steel.