Steel Structure Commercial Building: How a 7,000 m² Studio Reached Mongolia

When you order a steel structure commercial building from the other side of the world — 7,000 m², for a demanding broadcast studio, in a country where winter drops below −30°C — price is not the part that keeps you up at night. The real question is simpler and harder: will it actually arrive complete, fit together, and stand?

In May 2023, VIKKINS handed over exactly that building in Mongolia. Below is the journey from our factory floor to the finished studio — and, at each step, what it shows about choosing a steel building for a difficult brief.

The brief: a column-free space that also survives extreme cold

Two requirements that sound like they cancel each other out:

• A broadcast studio needs open, column-free floor space — room for sets, lighting rigs, and cameras to move without interior columns in the way.
• Mongolia is one of the harshest climates on earth — temperatures swing from above +30°C in summer to below −30°C in winter, with heavy snow and wind loads on the roof and walls.

Add a third pressure most buyers underestimate: the building is sourced from overseas and shipped to a landlocked country, so every handover — fabricator, freight, local crew — is a place where parts go missing, schedules slip, and accountability disappears. A clear-span steel building, engineered and manufactured the right way, answers all three at once. Here is how that played out.

1. In the factory — quality is built in before anything ships

The project started where every VIKKINS building starts: in our own workshops. Steel columns, beams, and trusses were cut, drilled, and welded to engineered drawings, then primed against corrosion. In parallel, the insulated wall and roof panels that make up the building envelope were produced in-house. Critical assemblies were trial-fitted before they were marked and packed.

This is where the “column-free” requirement is actually solved: a clear-span steel frame carries the building’s loads through perimeter columns and roof trusses, leaving the interior open — exactly what a studio floor needs. And because VIKKINS manufactures both the steel structure and the envelope — we are a manufacturer, not a trading company — every specification is controlled under one roof, to ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 standards and a Level II steel structure contracting qualification, before a single container is sealed.

2. Packed and shipped — engineered to survive the journey

Getting 7,000 m² of building to landlocked Mongolia is its own engineering problem. Components were marked, bundled, and containerized to survive a long overland-and-sea route and arrive ready to assemble, not to repair. Packing is not an afterthought at VIKKINS — it is the stage that protects everything the factory got right.

3. Delivered, assembled, and standing — Mongolia, May 2023

The containers reached the site, and the pre-engineered, factory-made components turned construction into assembly: columns rise, frames close up, cladding and insulated panels go on — in weeks rather than months.

The result, completed in May 2023, is a finished 7,000 m² commercial broadcast facility: column-free spans inside for the studio floor, a tightly insulated envelope outside to hold temperature through a roughly 60-degree annual swing, and a steel structure engineered for the local snow and wind loads.

What this means if you’re sourcing your own building

A studio in Mongolia is an extreme brief, but the lessons apply to any commercial or industrial project bought from abroad. Before you choose a supplier, ask:

• Do you manufacture both the steel and the envelope? One accountable source means consistent quality and no finger-pointing between vendors.
• Is the structure engineered to my local snow, wind, and seismic codes? A generic design that ignores local loads is where cold-climate buildings fail.
• Do you support installation? Erection drawings and remote or on-site guidance keep a crew that has never seen the drawings from stalling.
• Can you show delivered projects in similar climates and logistics? Proof beats promises.

VIKKINS answers yes on every line: an integrated steel structure system and building envelope manufactured in-house, with an annual capacity of around 20,000 tons of steel and 5 million m² of panels, delivered to more than 90 countries — engineered, manufactured, shipped, and supported through installation, by one partner from the first drawing to the final connection.

Planning a commercial or industrial steel building — even for a tough climate or a hard-to-reach site? Tell us the scope and request a quote; we’ll show you what’s possible.