Case · Cold chain · Shijiazhuang

Four hundred and fifty thousand square metres, released in phases.

A national backbone cold-chain base on 995 mu. Components broken down in BIM, assembled on site as modules, a PV roof over the storage blocks — and two phases that come online one after the other.

450,000 m²planned floor area
995 musite area
BIMcomponent breakdown before fabrication
2phases, released in sequence
The difficulty

A Building Designed at Full Size and Delivered in Parts

Most projects are one building. This one is a base: storage blocks, a cold-chain envelope, a roof carrying PV, and a second phase that arrives while the first is already running.

01

It keeps growing

Phases one and two come online in sequence. The frame has to be detailed for the building it will finally be, not only for the part being cut this month — otherwise the joint between the phases is a problem nobody priced.

02

Modules, not members

Components are broken down in BIM and shipped as modules, so the work on site is assembly rather than fabrication. That decision moves hours from the site to the workshop, where they cost a fraction.

03

A roof that carries PV

The storage blocks have a PV roof. Whatever it weighs is a load the frame has to have known about at sizing — a roof prepared afterwards is a different structure.

04

The envelope is the performance

A cold-chain base is judged by what it holds, not by what it looks like. Panels, joints and the vapour path are the reason the building earns its keep, and the steel exists to keep them straight and dry.

National backbone cold-chain base, Shijiazhuang
National backbone cold-chain base, Shijiazhuang — planned at 450,000 m² on 995 mu.
What it takes

Four Decisions That Have to Be Made Early

None of them can be recovered later without cutting steel that has already been galvanised.

01

Break it down in the model, not on site

The BIM breakdown is what makes a modular site possible: it decides the module size, the lifting weight and the container plan in one pass.

02

Detail the end state

Grid, bracing and connection positions are set for the completed base, so phase two bolts onto phase one instead of beside it.

03

Load the roof once

PV, plant and maintenance access are declared at sizing. A roof that is asked to carry more later is a new calculation, not a new bracket.

04

One owner for the envelope

Frame, panel, barrier and refrigeration meet at the same detail. On a cold-chain site, that detail needs one name against it.

05

Ship to the sequence

Packing follows the erection order rather than the drawing order, because on a site this size, a missing bundle stops a crew, not a line item.

06

Keep the drawings alive

When a base is built in phases, the revision history is part of the product. The second phase is only as good as the record kept during the first.

More

Other Cases and the Full Register

Building in Phases? Send Us the Whole Plan.

A base is decided by what phase two will need. Send the masterplan, not only the first building, and the joints can be right the first time.

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