Rubb UK’s structural engineer has been building a close relationship with one of the world’s leading steel manufacturers Tata Steel.

Dale Robinson (pictured above left) arranged for Steve Whitfield, chartered member of the Institution of Structural Engineers and Manager of Technical Marketing for Tata Steel Tubes, to visit Rubb Buildings’ Gateshead plant to deliver a seminar to the company’s technical team and production manager.

Tata Steel Group is a major global steel producer with a crude steel capacity of 28 million tonnes per annum. Tata has manufacturing sites in the UK, Netherlands, Germany, France and Belgium and employs around 80,000 people worldwide.

The seminar ‘Essentials of Structural Hollow Sections’ aimed to raise awareness about Structural Hollow Sections. The key aspects discussed were:

• Manufacture of Structural Hollow Sections
• Comparison between Hot Finished and Cold Formed
• Specification and Certification of Structural Steelwork
• Tata Steel Hollow Sections

The one-and-a-half hour seminar was well received at a time when the UK is going through a substantial change with design legislation and in particular the introduction of CE marking. Rubb uses a large amount of hollow section, of varying grades and specification and a thorough understanding of hollow sections is essential.

CE stands for European conformity and is a manufacturer’s declaration that the product complies with the requirements of the relevant European health, safety and environmental protection legislation. CE marking will be mandatory from March 2014 and Rubb is already well on the way to meeting the stringent requirements to provide CE marking.

The seminar was useful for people with varying knowledge of steel hollow sections and Steve was on hand to answer all questions raised. The seminar also gave an in-depth view of the documentation required to meet CE marking which is incorporated into Rubb’s Quality Assurance system.

Following on from the seminar Rubb will visit the steel mill at Tata’s Hartlepool site where a tour of the manufacturing plant will take place.

Dale said: “This has been a very successful experience for Rubb and this type of continued professional development is high on our agenda. We will continue to draw upon external knowledge and implement seminars on a regular basis to help us maintain market leadership.”

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Rubb has designed and manufactured a helicopter hangar for African Petroleum in The Gambia.

African Petroleum Corporation Ltd is an Oil and Gas Exploration Company focussing on offshore West Africa with current projects off the coast of The Gambia and Liberia.

The 15m span x 40m long Rubb BVR hangar provides shelter for AP aircraft at Banjul Airport.

This relocatable structure features 5m sidewalls, one open gable, one pedestrian/fire escape door and vent openings in the rear wall. Its steel frame was hot dip galvanised after the welding process to provide a maintenance free structure.

The walls feature goosewing grey PVC fabric and the roof is white translucent high tenacity polyester fabric, PVC coated on both sides. The material is fire retardant.

Erection adviser John Borlace headed up the construction team which completed the Rubb helicopter hangar in just 12 days in July 2012. The site also hosts office accommodation.

The 11.1m Rubb EFASS sunshade for Rio Tinto

The first Rubb 11.1m sunshade has been successfully delivered to house the commercial helicopter operations of Rio Tinto.

The sunshade features an aluminium frame clad with white Serge Ferrari 832 PVC fabric. This is the smallest aircraft sunshade in the EFASS range, initially designed to accommodate small aircraft and helicopters.

The EFASS shelter system, which features hangars, sunshades and warehouses, is uniquely suitable for the storage and maintenance of aviation equipment and operations. The system is designed to be rapidly deployed and quickly erected anywhere in the world.

Each hangar can be quickly constructed using a number of steel fabricated components together with uniquely designed aluminum roof and leg sections, that bolt together to form the span trusses. When assembled, tough PVC coated polyester fabric sheets slide between the aluminium extrusions of adjacent spans to form the shelter.

Rio Tinto is an international mining group specialising in finding, mining and processing mineral resources. The company works in difficult terrain and climates around the world and its business includes open pits, underground mines, refineries and research facilities.

Rubb General Manager Ian Hindmoor said: “This is an interesting project and we are delighted to supply Rio Tinto with the first 11.1m EFASS sunshade for commercial use. These structures are traditionally used by military personnel but are increasingly meeting civil and business aviation requirements. We look forward to developing the product further to meet our clients’ needs.”

The Bravo November inside a Rubb hangar in Kandahar

Rubb Buildings have been helping to protect UK military personnel, equipment and operations for more than 30 years. The relationship first took off when Rubb Buildings Ltd supplied a storage building to the Red Arrows in 1979. Since then Rubb military structures have been meeting expeditionary operation requirements all over the world.

In more recent years Rubb’s unique fabric engineered facilities have been deployed in Afghanistan as part of UK, Canadian and USA military operations, at Gioia del Colle air base in southern Italy as part of the NATO led Operation ELLAMY and used in anti-piracy missions by EUNAVFOR in The Seychelles. Rubb military buildings also feature at many UK bases including RAF Northolt, where MoD Typhoon jets will be stationed to protect London in 2012. Rubb Buildings have helped defend crews from the elements and housed invaluable equipment in the field – including Bravo November, the veteran Chinook helicopter from the Falklands campaign which survived an attack during the conflict and went on to serve in Iraq, Northern Ireland, the Balkans, the Lebanon, Kurdistan and Afghanistan.

Building Foundations…

After delivering a 12m x 12m relocatable building to RAF Kemble in Cirencester in 1979, Rubb went on to win a contract for four 16.5m span hangars for the Tornado Squadron at RAF Cottesmore in 1981. The company developed bigger 20m span hangars and 28 structures with Fast Jet Doors were delivered to Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands, earning it the nickname of ‘Rubb Alley’. A 25m span x 36m hangar designed to house a Chinook helicopter was later delivered to Goose Green.

General Manager Ian Hindmoor said: “The hangars were so successful orders for more came in for bases in Germany.” Rubb military structures started to pop up all over the globe in locations including Belize and Ascension Island. Rubb Buildings Ltd has been successfully meeting Urgent Operation Requirements for the MoD ever since.

Soon the research team at Rubb was developing a shelter suitable for rapid deployment. “We were asked to develop a hangar which could be erected without any type of handling equipment like cranes and access platforms,” added Ian. Rubb’s design team came up with the REH (Rapid Erect Hangar) and supplied 34 to the MoD in 1995.

Feedback revealed that the MoD required a lighter and stronger structure that could be constructed in a shorter period of time. The contract was put out to competitive tender world wide and Rubb came up with the winning concept of the RES (Rapid Environmental Shelter). Rubb’s aluminium framed, fabric covered rapid deployment shelter range, now widely known as EFASS (Expeditionary Forces Aircraft Shelter System), has been well received world wide currently used by UK, USA, Canadian and UAE military organisations.

Ian said: “We fine-tuned the design to provide multiple spans by any length, electrical and insulation systems, several different door options and additional kit such as roof mounted cranes. This all packs into 20ft containers ready for rapid deployment as required.”

Mr John Neilan presents a copy of the commendation to Rubb General Manager Ian Hindmoor

Rubb Buildings Ltd has been commended by the UK Ministry of Defence for the part the company played in providing ‘vital’ military warehouses to Operation HERRICK in Afghanistan.

The Rubb EFASS buildings were supplied to the Operational Accommodation Technical (OAT) Output Section of the Expeditionary Campaign Infrastructure (ECI) Project Team who successfully delivered the equipment infrastructure for the Interim Force Primary Depot in Helmand Province. The OATOS received a Certificate of Commendation from Maj Gen CL Wilks CBE (Director Land Equipment) for their achievements.

Head of General Support Group Mr A R Ashton congratulated Rubb UK on the successful delivery of the Interim Primary Force Depot on Op Herrick in Afghanistan. He said: “This capability is vital to sustain current and future operations in the Helmand Province and the benefits of reduced stock holdings as well as faster receipt and onward transmission will significantly increase the deployable logistics capability available to support the full spectrum of operations.”

“I have been informed that the team went above and beyond the call of duty to get this equipment delivered ahead of schedule. Even to the extent of repacking the equipment in a different configuration so that it could be flown to Afghanistan rather than by ship. Please pass on my congratulations to all of your team who were involved in the project.”

Mr John Neilan from the Output Accommodation Technical Output Section at Defence Equipment and Support presented a copy of the commendation to Rubb General manager Ian Hindmoor earlier this year.

Rubb Buildings Ltd is an innovating world leader when it comes to the design, manufacture and delivery of relocatable helicopter, fixed wing aircraft and military storage ‘super hangar’ systems.

Rubb will be promoting its Expeditionary Forces Aircraft Shelter System (EFASS) at Stand C6-002, at IDEX at ADNEC, Abu Dhabi, UAE, from February 17^th-21^st 2013 .

The EFASS shelter system, which features hangars, sunshades and warehouses, is uniquely suitable for the military services, designed to be rapidly deployed and quickly erected anywhere in the world. General Manager Ian Hindmoor said: “This will be our second time exhibiting the EFASS range at IDEX. This range of military buildings really pushes the boundaries and is in a league of its own when it comes to the rapid deployment of robust and reliable shelters, hangars, warehouses and sunshades. It provides protection to personnel and vital equipment in the most challenging of environments. It also offers some unique qualities including new state-of-the-art door options and crane technology.”

Each hangar can be rapidly constructed using a number of steel fabricated components together with uniquely designed aluminum roof and leg sections, that bolt together to form the span trusses. When assembled, tough PVC coated polyester fabric sheets slide between the aluminium extrusions of adjacent spans, to form the shelter. Rubb Buildings Ltd will be showcasing all the latest innovations the EFASS range has to offer including new door configurations and combinations used in recent military operations.

Ian added: “We have been busy working on an exciting aircraft hangar project for Horizon International Flight Academy in Al Ain, UAE. Rubb provided three 24m x 36m steel and aluminium hybrid EFASS structures to Horizon and we are looking forward to showcasing this project and meeting new clients. IDEX is the ideal platform to do this and is part of our ongoing strategy to meet military requirements nationally and internationally.”

Structures are available in three spans: 11.1m (36ft), 20.4m (67ft), 25m (82ft), by any length, with multiple door options. They pack into 20ft ISO containers ready for transport by sea or air. With unmatched engineered fabric structures currently in action across the globe, Rubb has the ideal solution to military and defence application requirements.

Rubb has been meeting the needs of the UK Ministry of Defence for more than 30 years and has the expertise and facilities to custom make an extensive range of military hangars, buildings, shelters and sunshades to individual specifications. Rubb has also supplied military buildings to USA, UAE and Canadian forces.

Rubb Military products are designed and manufactured in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, UK.

Total Quality:

• State-of-the-art door options: Heli-Door, Trident and Roller Shutter options
• Innovative roof mounted crane provides optimal operational capability
• Superior aluminium structural frame: 6082 T6 aluminium is annodised black and steel components are hot dip galvanised to protect from corrosion
• Supplied with integral foundation arrangements to securely anchor structures to the ground
• High strength, heavy weight, coated, military standard fire retardant fabrics from proven suppliers
• Flexible membrane and aluminium design allows installation on uneven or sloping sites
• Clear span space to accommodate a wide variety of rotary and fixed wing aircraft and land vehicles
• Structures can be insulated, heated or air conditioned to provide a perfect operating environment whatever the climate
• Client support from Rubb technicians from quotation to installation and beyond