Adiverse range of projects – right from the Safwa Tower in Makkah to a gold refinery in Dubai – are drawing on the benefits of speedy and durable construction that Hambro composite floor joist systems offer, says its Saudi-based manufacturer Canam Asia Limited (CAL).

CAL – a joint venture between Saudi Arabia-based Zamil Industrial Investment Company and Steel Plus, an affiliate of the Canadian Canam Group – is now looking to further boost its presence in the regional markets with the Hambro D500 composite floor joist systems.
“Canam Asia is the only company in the region that custom designs, fabricates and supplies open-web steel joists that are ideal for floors and roofs in all types of buildings, whether steel or concrete,” says CAL general manager Fouad Kassabaki. “With an industrial licence for the manufacture of steel joists, Canam Asia’s state-of-the-art facility in Dammam, started production in 2002 with an annual capacity of 12,000 tonnes of open web joists.”
CAL is well-renowned for being a manufacturer and supplier of steel construction products, notably open-web steel joists, roof trusses and composite steel decks.
Its joists are custom-built structural elements used to support the floors and roof of a building that includes schools, factories, warehouses, stores and other such structures worldwide.
One of CAL’s leading products is the Hambro composite floor joists system, the design flexibility of which meets the needs of any type of construction, he says. It is used on masonry, steel frame, metal stud, pre-cast walls, ICF block as well as wood-frame construction. It is being used extensively on single family and multi-family residential complexes including high-rise projects and commercial buildings.
“As of today, 10 million sq ft of Hambro have been supplied annually in Europe and America, at an average of approximately 9,000 tonnes per year,” Kassabaki says.
Highlighting the benefits of the system, he says: “The Hambro composite floor system can bring about cost savings of up to 20 per cent on the building frame alone.”
“It also speeds up work offering a floor cycle of 10 to 11 days per level. The savings depend on the nature and size of the project, as a repetitive modular design for instance will increase savings.”
Advanced solution
The Hambro D500 composite floor joist system is an advanced up-to-date solution for elevated floor construction challenges. Combining Hambro steel joists with poured concrete, the system consists of hybrid concrete/steel T-beams running in one direction and an integrated continuous slab in the other. The bottom chord (with a flexural strength at yield [fy] 50,000 psi minute) acts as a tension member in the concreting stage and during the service life of the floor. The web system tying the top and bottom chords together consists of bent rods (fy 44,000 psi minute) and resists vertical shear in a conventional truss manner, he explains.
The patented 13-gauge top chord (fy 50,000 psi minute) acts as a compression member during the non-composite stage. In the composite stage, the top chord is embedded in the concrete and functions as a continuous shear connector. The concrete slab is reinforced with welded wire mesh. The top chord functions as a high chair, developing negative moment capacity in the concrete slab that behaves as a continuous one-way reinforced slab.
According to Kassabaki, the Hambro D500 offers a number of advantages that include:
• Simplicity, allowing for fast-tract construction and hence early returns on investment;
• Rigidity with a composite design;
• Maximum duct openings, saving on all mechanical trades (plumbing, electrical and HVAC). The electrical, plumbing, HVAC, fire fighting and networks run between the slab and false ceiling;
• Fire protection with UL ratings with PVC plumbing and duct openings without fire dampers;
• Excellent acoustic properties, with sound transmission class (STC) ratings;
• Versatility, being applicable to all types of framing;
• Good service facilities with fast delivery, design assistance and value engineering;
• Economical since less concrete and reinforcing steel is required with longer spans;
• Eliminates the need for props for floor shuttering;
• Less dead load; and
• Time and cost savings in concreting and reinforcement.
“The Hambro D500 composite floor joist system is highly fire-resistant and independent laboratories have tested floor/ceiling assemblies using Hambro,” he says. “Fire resistance ratings have been issued by Underwriters Laboratories (UL) in the US and by Canadian Underwriters Laboratories from Canada, covering gypsum board, acoustical tile and spray-on protection systems.
“The system also has excellent sound control and acoustical properties. Independent tests in a completed apartment in accordance with ASTM-E336 as well as laboratory testing under ASTM-E90 have resulted in the Hambro system receiving a sound transmission class (STC) of 57 which is twice as effective as a six-inch concrete slab.”

Design flexibility
The design flexibility of the Hambro system satisfies the needs of various types of construction. It has been used for masonry or steel-framed buildings, poured or precast concrete walls, as well as wood or metal frame construction including small and mid-rise apartments and condominiums, multi-storey residential complexes, commercial and public buildings, hotels and other buildings.
Hambro systems have been used in various projects in the GCC which include the Safwa Tower in Makkah, which called for 1,571 tonnes of steel; a gold refinery in Dubai (for Zamil Steel’s Pre-Engineered Buildings business unit – 500 tonnes of steel); warehouses and a hypermarket, (among others for Amana Contracting and Steel Buildings); Al Majed Farm Building in Jeddah; a labour camp for Dolphin Steel Construction in Dubai; Zuhair Fayez headquarters building in Jeddah; and Salama Tower in Riyadh.
The Hambro D 500 includes additional systems and accessories such as the following:
• The LH series, which features a top chord S made of two Hambro sections. These composite long-span floors provide greater economy for heavy service loads and longer spans. Joist depths range from 20 to 36 inches with spans up to 53 inches;
• Rollbar angle on steel beams is designed to be field-attached to the top flange of a steel beam running parallel to a Hambro joist. It is slotted similar to the Hambro top chord S to accommodate rollbars;
• Rollbar angle on walls is fastened on the top of walls and is slotted similar to the Hambro top chord “S” to accommodate rollbars; and
• Hanger plate is a shop-attached slotted plate for thicker slab areas.
CAL is a fully-accredited member of the Steel Joist Institute (SJI) and can provide the full range of SJI products, including K-series joists, KCS-series joists, LH-series joists, DLH-series joists and joist girders. It uses state-of-the-art software for the design of its products, and can accommodate many special design requirements, including point loads, moving loads, end moments and axial loads and slopes.
“The company is committed to providing a high-quality product that exceeds both the SJI and project requirements. Its raw materials from Saudi Arabia, Japan and Korea meet exacting standards, and all of its work is rigorously inspected before it leaves the plant,” Kassabaki concludes.