Guru Nanak Gurdwara West Bromwich

Ornate sculptural profiled temple dome 4.8m dia x 7.6m tall plus khanda

GRP subcontractor: Design & Display Structures
Main Contractor: TLD Building Services
Architect: John R Bradbury

Main Contractor: TLD Building Services

Architect: John R Bradbury

Working within a very tight site space and programme schedule D&D had to bring in the fully finished segments, site assemble to create an ornate sculptural profiled temple dome 4.8m dia x 7.6m tall plus khanda, hoist it out of the space to an interim lorry bed before a final lift into place.

To produce the 360 degree ornate band on top of a double curved dome structure would have been very labour intensive and hugely expensive. By creating a modular piece of tooling that could be cast as repeating GRP segments the initial sculpting work only had to be done once to just 30 degrees. D&D used a combination of Vectorworks and Rhino to produce the necessary 3D/2D fabrication and installation drawings.

Fibre polymer composites (GRP) is a lightweight yet robust material resulting in a less loads being placed upon the flat roof structure below. Modular tooling made for dramatic economies of scale and the segments prefinished to client chosen RAL or BS colour meaning no site decoration cost or programme time needed whilst affording an easy to maintain long lasting finish.

The D&D design team collaborated with the builder to ensure the plinths were constructed to the appropriate sizes and positions. With all in place before D&D arrival the site installation was undertaken in swift fashion, taking just three days start to finish.

The final construction comprised a GRP shell, mirror polished stainless steel khanda and galvanised steel cross bracing and brackets.