eKourier Jan 2016

Removal of Storage Walls FEATURES

National Accounts Update

It’s been an interesting year for National Accounts.

We welcomed Actavis, Ajro Huntleigh, Ascott Sales, Australia Post, Bayer, BGP Products and Rockstar Management to the Program taking the number of accounts we manage up to 67. This year Techtronics doubled the number of spaces they occupy and Club Assist became our first ever customer to exceed 1,660 rented square meters across 70 units. Like many industries the Pharma industry is going through a lot of changes in the way they do business. This year we helped a number of customers make the switch to our locker model. Servier Laboratories now occupy 50 lockers with us and the transition has been a great success and a positive journey. Likewise 2015 has seen the Program expand into other industries which we are excited to see continue into the new year. Fiona Harding Business Development Manager Customer Feedback “I want to pass on a compliment to one of your Wollongong staff, I think his name is Matt.., We have been dealing with KSS in Wollongong for a few days, on a rather urgent storage arrangement. I was to meet a removalist from Melbourne this morning and when I arrived at the office at 9.00am everything had been done for me, padlock unlocked, code recorded on a card nothing was a problem.

C entre’s have multiple types of partition wall construction that can essentially be segregated into two types – structural and non-structural. Typically our one and two storey buildings are built out of lightweight steel frame (similar to a house) which is lined with zinc-alumina metal sheeting. The walls with these frames are load bearing and either extend to support the roof above (single storey) or support both the floor over and roof above in a two storey building. A common site practise is converting current storage units to increase unit inventory for larger rentable spaces. At some Centre’s, we are experi- encing customer demand for larger (enterprise) space sizes, and also demand for converting our smaller unit types due to specific customer requirements. Our Storage centre floor loadings are engineer designed with a 5kPa loading. In practical terms this equals approxi- mately 500kg per sqm of area. You may appreciate, this is a fairly consider- able load. However, a recent incident occurred at a centre when an internal wall was removed to create one of the converted spaces, resulting in the collapse of a storage unit wall due to overhead weight restraints from the storage floors above. In this instance, a simple construction check before any walls are removed would have prevented this occurring. As you might

‘ A common practise is converting current storage units to increase unit inventory for larger rentable space. imagine, the consequences of a failed wall and/or storage floor could be quite destructive and even fatal. Fortunately, this wall movement occurred prior to the customer occupying the space. It is important to be aware that the removal of any storage unit wall (internal or external) may weaken the structural integrity of a storage unit effectively causing the possibility of internal movement and collapse. The engagement of a qualified builder to assess any proposed unit conversions or removal of any internal or external wall at centre level needs to be considered. Therefore, when looking to alter any unit walls take care to identify what type of wall it is. Then prior to any structural wall or floor works being conducted, you should seek prior approval from your Operations Manager and/or our Construction Team.

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So thanks guys, will be happy to use you again.”

Wayne Birch Operations Manager VIC

14 Kennards Kourier January 2016