Swansea University’s seafront campus opens

Steel construction has played a major role in the building of Swansea University’s Bay Campus which opens this coming Monday (Sept 21).

Built on the site of a former BP facility, the 65 acre Campus development includes seven steel-framed structures: Engineering Central (pictured), the School of Management, the Great Hall, a Library, Institute of Structural Materials, Innovation Hub and the Energy Safety Research Institute (ESRI),

“Economics, value and flexibility were the reasons for choosing steelwork for our research, teaching and manufacturing facilities,” said St. Modwen Construction Project Manager Richard Powell.

“Maximum adaptability is important for these structures as during their lifetime the usages are quite likely to change.”

Working on a design and build contract for main contractor Vinci Construction, Caunton Engineering was responsible for fabricating, supplying and erecting five of the buildings which required 1,800t of steel.

The largest of the buildings and the first to be erected was the 95m long x 87m wide Engineering Central. This three-storey structure is divided in half by a 9.5m wide street, which is glazed at either end and spanned by a tensile fabric roof.

This building will provide laboratory and teaching spaces for industrial and manufacturing research, so the steel frame is based around a regular 9m x 9m grid, which is sufficient to provide the structure with the required classroom sizes.