The new Jaguar Land Rover is located in the industrial area of Nitra - North in Slovakia. After England, China, India and Brazil, it is the fifth factory of this brand. After completing all the buildings with a total area of about 300,000 square meters, it will be one of the largest factories in the world and employ around 2,800 people. Construction costs are around £ 1 billion. The factory is supposed to produce 150,000 cars a year in the first phase and is the first in Europe equipped with pulse conveyors.
The building size of MP&L (Material Planning & Logistics) is 240 x 198 m. The structure consists of fixed RC columns and steel roofs mostly fixed into RC columns. The main grid is 30x15 m. The height of the building is very various, the building has a total of 5 roof levels. The highest attic is at a height of 24.8 m. The building is splitted into two sections. Expansion movement of approx. 50 mm is ensured by elastomeric bearings.
The lattice continuous girders are 3.08 m or 2.78 m high and are fixed into the RC columns. Pent lattice purlins with a height of 2.78 to 3.08 are designed in a regular grid of 5.0 m, the top chords are at a slope of 2%, the bottom chords are horizontal. Some purlins are fixed into the RC columns. Horizontal and vertical bracing transmitting the effects of wind, stability and seismic forces is proposed in the plains of top and bottom purlin chords.
Two roof superstructures (so-called Plantrooms) with length of 90 m are designed as double-hinged frames with a span of 15 m and with a spacing of 5.0 m. The floor of these structures is covered with steel walk-on sheets supported by HE-A beams with 1.0 m spacing.
The content of our work was structural and seismic analysis of the building, detailed design documentation of the steel superstructure, detail design and all secondary structures (roof and facade substructures, inbuilts, staircases, crane beams, air-conditioning platforms, etc.). Seismic analysis of the building was developed by firm Link projekt Ltd.
