News
Steel rises on Oxfordshire science project
The latest project at the prestigious
Harwell Science Campus in Oxfordshire
has started to take shape.
Known as the Harwell Facilities
Building, it will provide specialist
support space allowing researchers to
test and commission new scientific
equipment for use on the campus and
around the world.
Steelwork is being fabricated, supplied
and erected by Hambleton Steel,
working on behalf of main contractor
Willmott Dixon.
A total of 900t of steel is required for
the project and this includes a series of
Whitehaven school completes 11-week steel programme
Working on behalf of Wates Construction,
Border Steelwork Structures (BSS) has
completed its 700t steelwork package on
Whitehaven Campus.
The project will bring together St
Benedict’s Catholic High School and special
education needs (SEN) school, Mayfield,
into two brand new buildings at the former’s
existing site in Hensingham, Whitehaven.
The project, which is due for completion
in August 2019, has a £28M value and has
been funded by investment from a range
of partners, including Copeland Community
Fund, Cumbria County Council, the
Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and
Sellafield Ltd.
As well as an indoor sports hall, fitness
suite and a hydrotherapy pool, a range of
outdoor facilities will be available to the
local community during non-school hours.
These include multi-use sports pitches,
6 NSC
Annual Review
large toblerone-shaped tubular cambered
roof trusses, fabricated and delivered in
three sections.
Procured through Scape Group’s
major works framework, Willmott Dixon
is working with Oxford architects, Clarke
Nicholls Marcel and AECOM to complete
the facility by spring 2018.
Willmott Dixon was appointed by the
Science & Technology Facilities Council
(STFC) for a £23.7M contract to build the
Harwell Facilities Building.
Peter Owen, Managing Director of
Willmott Dixon in the Midlands said: “It’s
less than two years after the company
completed the RAL Space facility for
STFC, also a steel-framed structure at the
Harwell Science Campus. We are
delighted to be back working with STFC.”
The City of London Corporation has granted
planning permission for WilkinsonEyre’s
revised 6-8 Bishopsgate/150 Leadenhall
Street tower, which includes 10 more floors.
Approval has now been secured for the
50-storey office tower which will sit at the
corner of Leadenhall Street and Bishopsgate.
The development will encompass a
distinctive ‘stacked blocks’ design, with retail
units on the ground floor and a viewing
gallery at its summit. The scheme will now
provide over 52,900m2 of space to let.
Developers for the scheme are Mitsubishi
Estate London and Stanhope.
Stanhope Chief Executive David Camp
said: “We are delighted to be continuing our
partnership with Mitsubishi Estates on this
striking landmark building for London that
will further enhance its global appeal and its
ability to attract high quality international
businesses to locate in the City.”
one of which will have an all-weather
4G surface.
“We erected the entire steel frame in
11 weeks, which amounted to some 3,500
individual pieces,” said BSS Contracts
Director Stuart Airey.
“That’s one of the advantages of steel, it
is quick to erect and only high winds, which
we didn’t really get, will halt its progress,”
added Wates Senior Project Manager
Simon Humphrey.
“I’ve been involved in a number of steel
Revised plans for City 50-storey tower approved
construction jobs in the past and this one
has been one of the most well organised.
The trick is to order the steel early and get
the fabrication started as soon as possible
to iron out any snags, and this is precisely
what we did.”