In this presentation from Eurosteel 2021 Professor Mike Davies asks a pertinent question – are big sheds safe?

Mike shares his personal experience, giving valuable insight into his role investigating cladding failures in several very large steel framed structures.

Starting with the origins of stressed skin theory and its codification in the later half of the 20th century, several important developments are highlighted:

• The publication of the definitive European Recommendations (1995)
• The proliferation of modern cladding systems
• The increase in size of plastically designed portal frames
• The case of “Building A”
• The case of “Building B”
• Effects of scale and the SCOSS alert
• The response to the SCOSS alert

The presentation is a great starting point and provides a huge amount of information as to why big sheds may not be safe.