Installing a 10 m long ceiling steel grid without support pillars – an office gym with a vision

In the medical and the pharmaceutical industry, the standards are extremely high. This of course also applies to Roche Diagnostics, another successful company we have had the honor of working with. The very values and the vision of the company testify to the fact that the quality of their products and the work of its employees must be one hundred percent. Of course, high standards also apply to all suppliers the company works with.

Admirable companies like Roche Diagnostics take care of all their employees and their needs in exchange for the effort they put in – so Roche Diagnostics gave its employees a gym in the administration building and named it “Work and barbell”.

The client had three requirements:

• the steel structure must be attached to the ceiling, without supporting columns, so that as much space as possible is available for free training and TRX exercises,
• nevertheless, the rack (if we can even call it that at all! 😊) must look stunning,
• the price must be as low as possible. Of course, a few other companies applied for the project as well, so we had to offer a good price without sacrificing quality.

Challenge:

For the first time, our engineers were faced with a client that requested that the entire rack be attached only to the ceiling. This was not just a crazy client’s request as there were good reasons behind it: the space intended for the gym has underfloor heating; in addition, the pillars would interfere with free training and exercise with TRX straps. What caused some inconveniences was the length: the structure stretches over 10 meters of ceiling!

Solution:

We had to get the opinion of a structural engineer; equipped with his recommendations and their own knowledge, our engineers got down to work. In three places, the structure was attached to the ceiling with custom-made pillars, and on both sides, two more wall bars were added, which do not have any supporting function, nor are they attached to the ground, but are very useful for functional exercise and stretching.

When planning the structure, we also had to take into account the possibility of further expansion of the rack.

Conclusion:

Despite all the calculations and 3D drawings, we were on edge all the way to the assembly. But as soon as we were contacted from the company, a wave of relief swept over us: the client was impressed by the unique, extremely stable and wonderful structure!

The client Roche Diagnostics also praised our customer support department, as the communication was smooth, fast, and the client was always informed about all steps.

The enthusiasm was mutual, we were also impressed by the professionalism of the client, as for the first time we had the opportunity to work with such a large multinational company. We recommend this experience to everyone. In addition, we have never done such a structure before and challenges like these are like a cherry on top of the cake of the daily duties for our engineers.