QinetiQ Movable Building

Evaluating military assets

Rubb has provided its second mobile structure to British defence technology company QinetiQ.

Located in the Outer Hebrides, the 13.25m span x 19.25m long x 7m sidewall BVR fabric structure was erected to provide shelter for testing and evaluating military assets.

To achieve this, QinetiQ required the shelter to be mobile. It covers and protects the assets from the environment when required, and can then be moved along a set of rails measuring 47.2m long to reveal the assets for testing procedures.

The building incorporates a specifically designed roller system which allows the smooth transportation of the building along its tracks to and from its permanent location. The rollers attach to the underside of the building footplates and the top of the foundation rail.

The rollers are designed to prevent the building from lifting off the track or sliding transversely. The movement of the building is carried out manually using a four-wheel machine, which attaches to the building’s gable end. There is a simple locking device using pins to secure the structure longitudinally when it isn’t in transportation, and the building has a strict transportation routine to ensure the safest possible operation.

The new structure incorporates a Rubb Heli-Door system, bespoke designed to meet the customers’ clearance requirements. This unique vertical lifting door system is designed to counter-act large wind pressures acting upon the door system and structure from the harsh surrounding environment.

As Rubb designed and constructed the environmental shelter for our 2015 requirement, Rubb were the obvious choice to design and install the environmental shelter for our 2021 requirement.

Hebrides Hard Services Project Manager Roddy Steele