Summit Steel has designed and built two triangular shaped entrance ground support structures for the Southampton Boat Show–at the main entrance to the show and at the entrance to the marina. The event was project managed by Summit’s Jay Call. This is the first time Summit has built ground support structures in this format, so an element of custom engineering was necessary to make it happen.
Based on the shape of an equilateral triangle each side of the triangle features two levels of truss, with a meter truss section in between. The bottom of the legs are clad up to 2.2m, and the three fascias of each structure are being used as billboards.
The main entrance measures 6.8m high; the marina entrance is 4.5m high. Both are constructed from Summit’s SuperTruss, complete with custom-built 60º corner pieces. The ground plates were also specially made for this project to support the triangular shape in the horizontal plane. Summit also designated and fabricated 60º horizontal support plates to increase strength and provide a base for vertical adapters to accommodate the legs.
Both structures were constructed near their final installed positions, this allowed for traffic in to and out of the event during setup. They were then craned into place at the appropriate moment. The final structures look extremely elegant and are highly practical as a signage device.
The ground support structures are designed to withstand extremely robust weather–wind speeds of up to 35m/sec–the larger structure being ballasted with 900kg of weight per leg. Each leg has the very expedient footprint of just 52cm – the size of Summit’s standard G.P. SuperTruss.