Universal Fabric Structures Provides Weather Resilient Warehousing in St. Croix, Virgin Islands
August 1, 2006
St. Croix, Virgin Islands is a tropical paradise to many, but with high winds expected at any time and the threat of damaging rains an ever-present possibility, paradise was the farthest thing from Howard Traeger’s mind as he looked for a warehouse solution to safeguard his customer’s PVF materials. His company, Traeger Brothers, an industrial distributor based in Miami, Florida, was approached by site contractor TVPI to provide a solution to store these components securely for Hovensa LLC, Christiansted, St. Croix, Virgin Islands.
Enter Universal Fabric Structures (UFS), a Quakertown, Pennsylvania-based manufacturer of fabric structures who, for over 30 years, has been offering quality industrial structures to satisfy a variety of project requirements.
As most people were preparing for the 2005 Christmas and New Year’s holidays, UFS was working closely with Traeger Brothers, to fulfill their immediate need for this warehouse facility in St. Croix.
UFS designed an Aluminum Hall (AH) structure to meet all their specifications and, a mere two weeks after receiving the order, deployed their resources and shipped all components to erect the structure at the customer site in St. Croix. UFS sent Curtis Mita, senior project manager, to St. Croix to oversee the project. With five on-site personnel waiting to assist Mita upon his arrival, the building was complete and ready for use in six short days. “Our customer, TVPI, a contractor who was doing work with Hovensa, needed to erect a warehouse quickly since they already had material on the way from Europe,” said Howard Traeger, president of Traeger Brothers and Associates, Inc. “We went with a fabric structure as it was not subject to the building and zoning approvals of traditional construction, and such approvals would have delayed the erection of the warehouse way beyond our due date.”
To get the job done, UFS supplied a 50′ x 130′ Aluminum Hall with a 12′ x 12′ roll-up door and a single, steel personnel door. The fabric they used was a Ferrari 702 white opaque for the side walls, and a Ferrari 702 white translucent for the roof sheets. Fabric was sealed to the existing surface for a weather-tight seal.
“We were very pleased with the flexibility of the design and the willingness on the part of UFS to think outside the box to solve our dilemma,” added Traeger.
Not many relocatable structures can hold up to the rugged weather conditions that are sometimes experienced in the Virgin Islands – the UFS structure is able to sustain hurricane type winds and the fabric is resistant to UV degradation. The use of an aluminum frame in the structure, was the first experience Hovensa has had with such a lightweight, highly relocatable structure – an option they found very attractive as compared to the many structures they have used in the past that were made of heavy steel and not able to be relocated.
The AH Model that Universal used for this project is the work horse of the Universal line of fabric structures. The AH Series offers a versatile, durable building option for temporary or semi-permanent shelter needs where speed of installation or relocation is essential. It is designed to be relocatable, airtight, attractive, expandable, flexible, and reliable. The basic product structure can be easily tailored to meet the project specifications both in terms of fabric, size and accessories.
