The latest trend in packhouse construction and cold storage is all timber. While in the past steel may have provided the framework for these long shed buildings, Hy90 and Hybeam by futurebuild now does a better job and at a lower cost. Michael Newey of Punchbowl Coolstores was project manager on a recently built kiwifruit packhouse just outside of Auckland and describes the construction process and exporting of the kiwifruit.

Sorting, packing and marketing the famous fuzzy fruit is an involved process, according to Newey. And he should know. He has spent seven years as operations manager and in this case, project manager, for Punchbowl Coolstores. This company specialises in owning and running orchards, contracting packing for other orchards and running leased orchards mostly in the North and South of Auckland.

Kiwifruit grows extremely well in New Zealand. In fact growers are often pruning back the plants that can grow like weeds. Compared to other fruits, says Newey, the kiwifruit is carefully graded and sorted because its marketing is very elaborate, with fruits of different shapes and sizes and packaging being exported to different markets. As such, the kiwi packing house or shed is 2000 square metres, with a grader down the middle. The fruit comes in loose from the growers, runs over the rollers where they are inspected by quality controllers. They are then sorted by size and given the correct packaging and exported accordingly. “Other fruits, you just bung in a box,” says Newey.

To achieve the length of the shed, futurebuild provided the large span timber beams. The packing house has an LVL portal frame with Hy90 rafters and Hybeam purlins. Designer, Peter Hill of Hill Design Engineering, designed the building and specialises in industrial and commercial timber construction. He has worked on a range of storage buildings of this type and explains that timber is the popular choice for such projects “because of the rise in building costs and the rise in the market price of steel over the last year or 18 months.” Instead, the same can be achieved with timber. Hill states that in this packing house the design suited the materials and was economical.

The building has central columns which fit in well with the plant. The Hy90 rafters run from the outside wall to the other side in clear spans with four columns in the middle to lighten the load. The weight of the Hybeam purlins also helped lighten the load.

The bracing gussets were an unusual feature, using all timber the structure was put together using Hy90 and many exposed bolts and nails that weave over the ceiling. This feature is usually hidden with steel but in this design has been used to great effect. As Hill says, the inside environment has a timber look that suits the activity and the fruit industry housed there.

In fact, so pleased was Hill with the timber look that he is now building all timber cow sheds, such as a recent project in Okato at Taranaki, on New Zealand’s West coast, using Hyspan portals and purlins. “It’s got a good natural look,” he says.

As Newey tells it, Punchbowl Coolstores selected futurebuild LVL as they had used the Australian product in building high canopies for trucks. “The company liked the product so we decided to use it for this project and sought out futurebuild in New Zealand, especially because it is now manufactured here. We gave futurebuild the opportunity to price it and design it for us and we really liked it. It’s good stuff, really useable.”

The budget was comparable to steel in terms of materials, but the true savings were made in the construction. Newey could employ existing labour so that per metre, the LVL worked out cheaper than the steel as they could use their own labour unit.

By all accounts, the futurebuild LVL beams were ideally suited to the construction of this kiwifruit packhouse. The length and strength of the timber spans and the ability to rely on normal building practices, meant that the budget was met and both designer and builder were left feeling warm (or rather, cool) and fuzzy.