Ayrshire Council

Project Requirements

Big Foot Systems were selected to provide custom support systems for 16 Denco condensers on the West Side of the Cunninghame House building in Glasgow.

Approaching the site deadline for roof work, no provision had been made for supporting the condensing units on the delicate roof. The initial idea of fabricating custom steel supports that would penetrate the roof surface was rejected in favour of two specially designed Big Foot frameworks, each measuring 27.5m in length.

The systems were tailored to allow the Big Foot feet to be located over the structural beams beneath the roof surface. The structural capacity of the roof could not take the combined weight of the 16 units which exceeded 10 tons. The Big Foot frameworks, each of which included 48 leg assemblies, spread the load to an acceptable value and were approved by both the Ayrshire Council and an independent Structural Engineer called in to assess the installation.

Whereas fabricating custom steelwork would have taken several months, the two frameworks were supplied from stock held at Big Foot Systems. Mr Gillespie from Denco commented “Big Foot gave us a simple solution compared to fabricating steel work. The two frameworks were by far the cheaper option and were on-site within days of first contacting Big Foot Systems.”

Denco Scotland will be responsible for the continued work at Cunninghame House and plan to use Big Foot Systems again when the East Side of the building is fitted.