What had been an abandoned boiler factory in St. Louis, MO is now home to the Sheet Metal Workers Local 36. Charged with transforming the dilapidated manufacturing facility into a state-of-the-art office and training center was Treanor Architects of Lawrence, KS. It developed a plan for the project that incorporates the latest energy-efficient features including Metl-Span insulated metal wall panels.

More than 24,000 sq. ft. of Metl-Span panels were utilized on the 96,000 sq. ft. building. The two styles of Metl-Span profiles included 3” CF42 and CF36 Architectural Flat panels finished in Cool Metallic Silver and Cool Copper Penny, respectively. The Cool Copper Penny panels were installed horizontally.

“The union obviously wanted to use as much metal as possible on the building,” said Yoon Soung, an associate with Treanor Architects. “We complied with a design that used insulated metal panels on a majority of the building along with some ACM and a minimal amount of brick. We took the building pretty much down to the structural members. Since the IMP’s are finished on both sides, they worked great on a major portion of the building that is open-space training areas that didn’t require dry wall finish inside.”

Handling the installation of the Metl-Span panels was Fabri-Tech Sheet Metal, Inc., St. Louis. According to Jim Becelaere, president of Fabri-Tech, “The president of the union asked that we assist the design team with material suggestions and selection. They were looking for cost savings and we were able to install the Metl-Span on the existing girts and provide a finished product on the inside too. The Metl-Span system saved a load of money and is probably one of the easiest profiles there is to work with.”

The general contractor on the project was GS&S, Inc., Bridgeton, MO.