School Hall Refurbishment Project

FOBA was asked by the Principal Fr. Gregory Augustine to initiate a project to increase the capacity of the College’s assembly hall. The project, which was spearheaded by committee member Trevor DeLandro, involved the design and construction of a mezzanine floor to accommodate approximately 400 persons standing.The mezzanine floor constructed at Fatima is a steel special moment-frame, which is designed in accordance with AISC 360-05 and the seismic provisions of AISC 341-05. Beams, columns and beam-column connections in steel special moment frame are proportioned and detailed to resist flexural, axial and shearing actions that result as a building sways during strong earthquake ground shaking. The mezzanine floor area is 11.40m wide and 10m long with an additional arched cantilever of maximum cord length 1.5m. It is five tier with a total floor area of approximately 117m².Construction of the mezzanine floor commenced on Tuesday 27 July 2010 with the cutting of the floor tiles in the assembly hall. All heavy construction i.e. foundation, columns, beams and composite floor decking was completed by 4 September 2010 to facilitate the opening of the school term on Monday 6 September 2010.During the months of September, October and November 2010, the metal framing for the tier system and the 20mm plycem board floor system were installed and the entire floor area tiled. These works were executed after school hours and on weekends.Fluorescent lighting fixtures were installed on the underside of the mezzanine floor and the entire underside was cladded using an aluminum framing system and gypsum.The mezzanine floor project was fully completed by 25 November 2010 and the College had full use of the new mezzanine floor for the annual Christmas concert on the 27^th and 28^th of November 2010.