The rebuilding of the Iron-making Area Center (administration building) of Kashima Works started in the last week of July. The building sustained damage to part of the production and shipping facilities in the Great East Japan Earthquake. To ensure the safety and security of people working in and around the iron-making area of the Works, this Center will be rebuilt as a structure specifically designed to provide greater safety from tsunami.
The Center will use pilotis — a design concept being proposed by the Japan Iron and Steel Federation for earthquake and tsunami-resistant structures to serve as bases at times of disaster. In the pilotis construction, the ground story, characteristically, has only independent bearing columns, eliminating walls and providing atrium-like open space, to allow tsunami waves to flow through them, thus evading their destructive forces.
The EG-COLUMN (round pipe column made by high-efficiency electro-gas arc welding) jointly developed by Kashima and Katayama Stratech and others, will be used for columns. For beams, HYPER BEAM (external-dimension constant H-shape) and SMART BEAM (welded light-gauge H-shape), both key structural products from Kashima, will be used.
The Kashima Works Iron-making Area Center will be a three-storied structure constructed on approx. 1700m2. The work is expected to be completed by October 2014. It will accommodate approx. 100 persons on a daily basis and can house almost 1400 evacuees in times of disaster.