GRILLSPAN Innovation At Its Best
The European Patent Office (EPO) granted a patent covered in thirty-eight (38) countries for a unique lightweight composite structural flooring system to Engineer Akhnaton Stephen Imhotep St. Rose, who is represented by ABG Intellectual Property (Spain). This was communicated in the EPO’s 6th January, 2021 publication and forms the basis of the development of GRILLSPAN.
GRILLSPAN is a two-way spanning light gauge steel (LGS) structural floor with the flexibility of also being used as a one-way assembly. It utilizes a 100mm (approximately 4”) thick concrete topping acting compositely with a series of primary and secondary LGS joists orthogonally arranged in a 1.5m (approximately 5’0”) grid. The forming panel is polystyrene foam (XPS) based and remains in place after the concrete slab has been cast in order to provide thermal and sound insulation. By engaging the concrete slab in both perpendicular horizontal directions, this system is able to span up to 12m (approximately 40’0”). Due to its characteristic lightweight the seismic load on a building superstructure can be substantially reduced. It is particularly well suited for multi-storey buildings to be constructed on weak strata as foundation loads are dramatically reduced; which enables pile reduction, foundation requirements and ultimately construction costs. It is also easily adaptable for modular residential buildings and serves as an excellent value engineering solution for a wide range of projects.