C O M M E N D A T I O N SSDA 2018
FACT FILE
Architect:
Thomas Ford &
Partners
Structural engineer:
Alan Baxter Ltd
Steelwork
contractor:
Ainscough Industrial
Main contractor:
Brymor Construction
Ltd
Client:
Brooklands Museum
NSC
October 18 29
Brooklands Museum Aircraft Factory
and Racetrack Revival
© David Lankester Brooklands in Surrey is considered
to be the birthplace of British
motorsport and aviation, as well as
the site of numerous engineering
feats. Over the past three years, it has
seen another unique achievement – the
successful relocation and refurbishment of
the 78-year old, Grade II listed, Bellman
Hangar.
The start of World War II marked
the end of motor racing at Brooklands,
with the entire site dedicated to military
aircraft manufacture. A range of temporary
structures were quickly erected to house the
manufacturing facilities, several using the
Bellman hangar design developed for the
military in the 1930s.
Once the site became a museum in
1991, a programme was begun to reinstate
as many original parts of the motor racing
track as possible.
The major obstacle to this work was
the location of the one remaining Bellman
Hangar, which blocked views of the track
and limited use of the straight during the
regular events held at the Museum.
The solution was to dismantle, refurbish
and relocate the hangar a distance of 100m
to the side of the finishing straight, and to
construct a new Flight Shed building to
house some of the Museum’s expanding
aircraft collection, together with workshops
and archive facilities.
Bellman Hangars are an early example
of a steel, system-build structure, and
were originally conceived as temporary
structures with a limited life span. Their
structure comprised modular steel
lattice trusses which use just two main
components; a ‘standard unit’ used to form
the columns and roof trusses and an ‘eaves
unit’ to connect the two.
The standard sections are roughly 2.4m
long, and are constructed from welded
back-to-back angles forming the top and
bottom chords, with single angles acting as
ties/diagonals.
The standard sections were simply
and efficiently bolted together on site to
form portal frames spaced at 3m centres,
connected by purlins formed from pressedsteel
channels.
“To achieve consent for the project to
proceed, we had to be satisfied that the
structure could be successfully dismantled
and re-erected without any major harm
or loss of existing fabric,” says Brooklands
Museum Commercial Director Valerie
Mills.
“This required a desk study and detailed
site observations to fully understand the
nature of the structure and its condition.”
Careful dismantling was specified
and undertaken to avoid damaging the
existing components of the building. The
components were then individually tagged
to define their location and orientation,
in order to make sure that that all the
components would fit back together again
in exactly the same locations.
In addition to the re-erection of the
hangar, a free-standing mezzanine was
designed within the hangar to increase
the exhibition space. This mezzanine also
included a bridge across to the adjacent
Flight Shed – linking the two buildings
without the need for extensive alterations to
the Bellman Hangar.
The judges say this project is a testament
to the adaptability of steel construction
and the care with which the project team
managed the task of dismantling the old
hangar, refurbishing individual components
and re-assembling the structure on a nearby
site, providing the ideal accommodation for
the Museum display.
Rather than constructing
a new steel structure,
this project was all
about renovating and
relocating an existing
historic Grade II listed
hangar.
/Trusses
/Welding
/Construction#Site_bolting
/Single_storey_industrial_buildings#Mezzanines
/Bridges
/Construction
/Recycling_and_reuse#Reuse