Rauta ColdStore – quickly assembled cold storages made of sandwich panels

Unlike traditional construction technology using a load-bearing steel or reinforced concrete frame, in a frameless solution sandwich panels are both load-bearing and envelope structures.

The load-bearing capacity of Ruukki sandwich panels allows you to create refrigerating chambers (modules) up to 5 meters high with spans up to 6 m. When arranging the modules, you can create warehouses with refrigerators and freezers of various configurations. Each module can have different temperature regimes, which allows more efficient storage of products that have different climatic conditions.

The frameless solution can be successfully used for the construction of fruit and vegetable warehouses, as well as other warehouses for refrigerators and freezers, where the storage technology requires separate rooms. This technology is patented, which allows Rauta to exclusively offer the construction of frameless buildings with sandwich panels.

The most optimal dimensions of the premises of a frameless refrigerated warehouse are width – 5.5 m, length – 11 m and height – 4 m. At the same time, the slope of the roof is the minimum requires 5-7° to reduce heat loss and efficient usage of internal space. The central corridor of the warehouse with refrigerating chambers has a width of 5 m, which allows you to organize the loading and unloading of products with forklifts.

Fast installation

The technology of installing frameless warehouses with sandwich panels ensures a very high speed of installation. For example, the construction of a turnkey Refrigerated warehouse with an area of 730 m² takes just 2-3 months.

Low price

The absence of a load-bearing frame provides significant savings in design, construction, logistics and installation. As a result, frameless technology provides up to 25% budget savings compared to frame construction. The total cost of a cold store construction depends on the required storage temperature, the area of cold chambers, the type and number of doors, refrigeration equipment and other factors.

The approximate cost of a set of materials for the construction of a Rauta ColdStore warehouse with an area of 730 m² is approximately €380/m². Wall and roof structures made of sandwich panels, fasteners and additional accessories are included in this price. The cost of building a turnkey cold storage facility with a foundation, installation, gates, doors and refrigeration equipment is in the range of €650-900/m².

High energy efficiency

ColdStore warehouses are built with Ruukki sandwich panels filled with polyisocyanurate foam (PIR) from 120 to 200 mm thick. This type of panels has the best price/energy efficiency/load-bearing capacity ratio, which ensures low heat loss and high durability of the building.

Thermal properties of Ruukki refrigerating sandwich panels

For long-term storage of fruit and berry products, warehouses with a controlled atmosphere (CA) are usually used, which allows to increase the shelf life of products from 2 to 6 times. The use of CA storage technology provides the highest tightness of the envelope structures to prevent cold loss and gas leakage from the chambers. Ruukki sandwich panels ensure the air permeability of envelope structures at the level of q₅₀≤ 1.5 m³/m²*h, which is the best indicator on the market and guarantees minimal energy costs for the operation of refrigerator and freezer warehouses.

Completeness

Rauta ColdStore is delivered as a set of materials and design solutions for building construction. If necessary, Rauta can provide a general contracting service for the installation of cold storage warehouses on a turnkey basis, which additionally includes the arrangement of foundations, the supply of refrigerator doors, climate equipment, protective elements, lighting, etc.

Durability

The use of Ruukki sandwich panels allows you to ensure the effective service life of Rauta frameless warehouses up to 50 years. A key factor in the durability of ColdStore is the characteristics of the sandwich panels, such as the load-bearing capacity of the core, the steel grade and the type of polymer coating of the facings. For the construction of Rauta ColdStore, Ruukki panels are used with increased PIR core density and fire resistance, with a compressive strength of more than 100 kPa. Ruukki coldstore sandwich panels are made of 0.5 mm S280 structural steel grade with a 20 micron zinc coating (equivalent to 275 g/m²) and a high-quality polymer coating 25 microns thick.

Flexibility

As long as the recommendations for the size of the chambers are followed, frameless refrigerating or freezing warehouses can have any configuration and layout. The presence or absence of corridors is determined by the storage technology. The versatility and design simplicity allow you to add easily new rooms to the existing building if necessary.

Safety

Ruukki sandwich panels are safe and ecological structures that can be in direct contact with food or medical products. The environmental characteristics of the panels are confirmed by the EPD declaration, as well as LEED, BREEAM certificates, etc.

Refrigerating and freezing warehouses can be built with frameless technology from sandwich panels for buildings of the CC1 classes of consequences, which meet category V fire safety requirements.

Main characteristics of a typical Rauta ColdStore low-temperature warehouse