PRODUCTION MEZZANINE FLOOR
GREEN & BROWN

Green & Brown are a leading manufacturer of handmade home furnishings ranging from a variety of blinds and curtains through to cushions and footstools. Since 2004 they have grown considerably, from a single small room to a 90,000 sq ft warehouse in Wakefield. With that growth, comes increasing customer demand and the need to expand once again.

Ideally they didn’t want to move premises, so they looked at options that would help them to take advantage of their existing space more efficiently. They called us in to survey their premises and to suggest how they could maximise their space. After discussing the options with Job Brown, The Head of Operations and IT at Green & Brown, they decided to move forward with a mezzanine floor based solution.

‘We looked at a range of different options and in the end we decided that a mezzanine floor would be a nice cost effective solution and space effective as well. We built a two-tier mezzanine which allowed us to use the height that we’ve got in the building, it takes us right up to the roof’. – Job Brown, Head of Operations & IT, Green & Brown.

Green & Brown needed a design and build specialist to provide them with their new premises and also guide them through the process from start to finish. Not only that, but whilst the project was ongoing, they needed to be operational and any disruption had to be kept to a minimum.

‘Given we’ve never run a project like this, we were looking for someone that could offer a turn-key solution and really hand hold us through the process. We wanted somebody to take away the pains and the worry of building a mezzanine. It’s a major project and we needed to be operational throughout that. That is exactly what Nexus provided for us’.

Due to the size of the mezzanine, it’s two-tier nature and the combination of the required weight load and the existing concrete floor’s load capabilities, we needed to pile the warehouse floor to ensure it would support the new mezzanine floor. This process involves the installation of pile caps into the concrete floor at the load points. These are expertly installed to the correct depth to ensure they withstand the required weight load of the mezzanine.

With the piling complete, our focus turned to the mezzanine build. However, before work could commence on the construction of Green & Brown’s new mezzanine floor facilities, we needed to take down a large area of existing high bay racking that was situated where the new mezzanine was to be built.

Once this was taken down, the mezzanine build commenced. The 1063 square metre mezzanine floor was designed to match up with Green & Brown’s existing first and second floor. So during the build, the safety of Green & Brown’s employees was of the utmost importance.

‘Our mezzanine build was adjoining to an existing mezzanine, where we had staff manufacturing throughout the build. In addition to that, we had floor to ceiling racking along the edge of our existing mezzanine, which we needed to remain in place until the end of the project to ensure that we continued to meet our customer’s needs. Now I don’t think a lot of other companies would have entertained this, it did result in a lot of extra work for Nexus, but they continually found a way through that and delivered exactly what we needed and when we needed it.’

The project as a whole consisted of the creation of two floors of additional storage and production space whilst also repurposing the ground floor into a new storage area for Green & Brown’s products. We also installed four new pallet gates to allow Green & Brown to quickly move products on and off the mezzanine.

As it was full turn-key solution, we provided each and ever aspect of the project from design right through to installation. This included the fire rating and the electrical works which consisted of two suspended ceilings complete with lighting and suspended LED baton lighting on the second floor. We also provided power for Green & Brown’s machinery on the first and second floor. This was provided via the installation of floor boxes and trunking underneath the decking.

Green & Brown are now maximising their space much more efficiently than before and they now have the production and storage facilities required to continue to meet their customer’s demands now and into the future.

‘Browsing their website, there’s tons of testimonials just like this one, from customers explaining how they found it, what their goals were and ultimately how it went. It really made Nexus come across as a really confident and capable company and experts in their field.’

‘Nexus were really accommodating when we needed to make changes to what we’d planned. Not only were they able to do that, but they were able to do that affordably. Nexus would have been well within their right to deny that change or to surcharge it heavily for a change at that point in time, but that’s not how they work.’

‘Not only that, they’re a multi-specialised company, they build mezzanines, they can do office fit out’s and for us they did lots of racking work. With that flexibility, the additions and the new work, they still delivered the project to the original schedule, all at an affordable price.’ – Job Brown, Head of Operations & IT, Green & Brown