More than 600 timber trussed rafters in 45 different configurations have been fabricated and installed at a Methodist elderly and dementia care home in Bedford.
Designed by architects the Tooley & Foster Partnership, Anjulita Court was supplied with a roofing solution by Trussed Rafter Association member David Smith St Ives Ltd in a £55,000 package.
One of the challenges was to integrate the main roof structure with large arched glulam beams at the building’s gable ends. The scale of the roof also presented problems in terms of transport and erection, leading the manufacturer to fabricate larger trusses as base sections spanning up to 13m, which then carry matching “top hats”.
A specialist sub-contractor erected the base sections on the building’s supporting walls, while a second team assembled top hats on the ground before being lifted by crane into position.
