In today’s news, we will look into this week, Warrington and Vale Royal College presented their plans for a significant development project. Meanwhile, in London, the EHA Group, which has its headquarters in Derry, was awarded two National Building and Construction Awards. Also, Stagg Architects has just finished the refurbishment of a minimalist office space in Clerkenwell. Furthermore, it is possible that an office complex built in the 1960s may be replaced in the city centre of Leicester by more than 400 apartments, including housing for students. Additionally, with the unveiling of a “unique” brick structure, Everton has confirmed a significant step in the construction of their new stadium. On top of that, a primary contractor located in Wrexham was awarded the national Net Zero prize.
Major Warrington and Vale Royal College plans
Original Source: Major plans put forward by Warrington and Vale Royal College
Warrington and Vale Royal College proposed major construction this week.
Documents filed propose a new building on the location.
Warrington Borough Council is selling the college site for the development.
The ‘Construction Skills Centre’ would teach technical skills, according to documents.
The structure would house plumbing workshops, two classrooms, and a staff office.
The planning documents state that the building will help the college boost local employability and respond to the government’s T-Level strategy.
If permitted, the skills centre’s roof will have solar panels to lessen its carbon footprint.
The institution is acquiring Orford Neighbourhood Hub’s overflow car space for construction.
According to the records, some partially demolished buildings remain on the property, with plans to remove all buildings in the area for landscaping.
The new building will be one story and made of the same materials as the college.
Documents also indicate measures to mitigate this development’s impact on the neighbouring environment.
Parking spaces will expand from 344 to 385.
New drainage systems will support the current system because this development involves considerable construction.
“A feasibility analysis undertaken in July 2021 identified an extra college building was required in order to cope with the delivery of the current T-level college curriculum and rising learner numbers,” the college said in the documents.
Warrington Borough Council’s planning committee is reviewing Warrington and Vale Royal College’s application.
Derry construction firm wins top award
Original Source: Top award for Derry construction firm
Derry-based EHA Group won two National Building and Construction Awards in London.
EHA Group won Contractor of the Year (over £5m) and Health and Safety Gold Winner.
Founder and CEO Edward Allingham said: “We are happy to take two prizes back to Derry from the National Building & Construction Awards. I want to congratulate everyone who worked on our UK and Ireland projects over the past 30 years for making us UK Contractor of the Year. With this ongoing business over the previous decades, we can keep supplying local construction jobs at our Eglinton head office or on site.”
Awards Director Damian Cummins: “The National Building and Construction Awards 2022 again honoured the UK’s top builders. After a difficult year in a competitive business, we were pleased to honour EHA Group as Contractor of the Year and Health and Safety Gold winner.”
Liebherr and Isuzu supported the National Building and Construction Awards 2022, a credible opportunity to encourage and promote industrious, hardworking, and ambitious building and construction firms.
The awards honour the best in architecture and construction, judged by an impartial jury.
Clerkenwell stripped-down workstation conversion by Stagg Architects
Original Source: Stagg Architects completes stripped-back workspace retrofit in Clerkenwell
The proposal expands and connects two buildings with industrial-style glazing to make their areas more legible.
The two preserved solid-brick buildings were built in 1914 and 1928 on an L-shaped site with little Clerkenwell Green frontage. Both structures are well-built, but years of changes had separated their interior rooms and restricted access.
The project preserved the structures’ basic semi-industrial look by stripping them down. The seven levels gained 600m2 and a wheelchair-accessible passenger lift.
To construct double-height basement areas with roof glazing and natural light, parts of the ground floor were demolished.
The building’s patchwork of brick and concrete has been retained to show its history, but damaged areas have been painted white.
Industrial-style black steel-frame double-glazed windows in an insulated black steel frame contrast with the existing thick masonry and punctured window holes in the new expansion.
The ancient softwood boards and pitch pine parquet are mostly maintained, sanded, and sealed, while the new parts feature douglas-fir boards. New ceilings of exposed softwood joists, birch ply, and herringbone strutting were added to the original ceilings.
The exposed thermal mass of the old structure and taller buildings to the south and south-west help avoid overheating by directing much of the glazing north and east. All floors except the lowest two have operable windows for regulated natural ventilation. First, fourth, and fifth floors have terraces.
Architectural perspective
We always strive to reuse and retrofit, but our customer saw the worth and beauty in the old structures, so we never considered demolition. The quantity of the existing building maintained and how carefully and tenderly it was restored was exceptional. Everything that could be reused was, both environmentally and out of a true affection for ancient materials.
Obtaining planning clearance for a 50% floor area expansion, complex party wall awards and neighbourly agreements, delivery during repeated lockdowns, working on a mostly land-locked site with neighbours simultaneously building, and using a construction management contract were all hurdles.
Another issue was to maintain thermal insulation and air tightness while maintaining a raw look. The black steel frame looks industrial, yet structural thermal barriers divide the inside and outside to reduce heat loss and condensation.
The result is a series of simple and elegant pared-back spaces, each floor with its own somewhat different character, softly linking and celebrating the old and the new.
Stagg Architects director Ben Stagg
Client perspective
I bought the site because of the beauty of the historic buildings and the ability to construct a sensitive and creative design. I wanted to open up the floorplates to give flexible floor space and let in as much lighting as possible. Modern changes had degraded the spaces.
We designed and built a complicated building, enlarging the floor area at every level, including the basement, and adding a two-story roof extension to maximise the roof terraces and vistas.
I love Clerkenwell, and it was fun to restore the historic buildings to their former glory while expanding them for commercial use. A multinational influencing agency and biotech firm are preparing to move into the full workplace.
Vincent Grebelius, Sätila
Hundreds of flats may replace a 1960s office block
Original Source: 1960s office block may be demolished to make way for hundreds of flats
The new development would include 15-storey parts.
More than 400 flats, including student housing, might replace a 1960s office complex in Leicester city centre. The city council approved the demolition of James House in Welford Road.
Now, Leicester City Council is considering a housing proposal. The flats would be divided into student and rental portions.
The building reached 15 floors. Three- and seven-story sections would be linked.
The plan shows 351 student beds and 106 residences. Student flats would face Welford Road while residential apartments faced Lower Brown Street.
James House comprises two three-storey sections and a nine-storey peak. Developers Cheswold Welford Road Limited argue the structure is past its lifetime.
The U-shaped building would have a plaza and public space between its wings. Residents may use the rooftop patio.
46 one-bedroom and 60 two-bedroom homes would be residential. Lower Brown Street is the site’s entrance.
Site parking is limited to 13. Bicycles would have 260 spots.
Everton’s “unique” brick build mark’s stadium project milestone
Original Source: Everton confirm major step in stadium project with ‘unique’ brick build revealed
Bramley Moore Dock will be Everton’s new riverside stadium.
Everton’s stunning new stadium will be covered in almost half a million bricks to blend with its dockside location.
Bramley Moore Dock construction has progressed throughout the year, with all four sides of the arena visible and the first 713 outside brick façade panels installed.
After being computer-designed in 3D, each panel is made from genuine bricks in a carefully controlled facility. When put on Everton’s new home’s for outside walls, the outcome will be a stunning blend of handmade craftsmanship and technological technology.
“These are real bricks, hand-made in Loughborough and then sent overseas to be split into 520,000 separate, individual half brick components,” said Laing O’Rourke Principal Façade Engineer Mike Young. To be cast into concrete panels, each has a key cut into the back.
“There will be 731 panels and 240 brick coping panels on top to finish it off, and it’s a sophisticated procedure in which every panel has been uniquely developed in a 3D environment. It’s fascinating to see the stadium’s exterior appearance for the first time as a façade engineer. That’s been two years to get to this stage, and it means 2023 will be a busy year.”
The new Everton Stadium will contribute to Liverpool’s iconic waterfront skyline. Quality, sustainability, speed, and safety are all advantages of using cutting-edge design and manufacturing off-site in tightly supervised factory conditions instead of traditional bricklaying.
Mr. Young highlighted how installing the cladding away from the stadium site benefited construction workers. “Off-site building is substantially safer than typical brick cladding methods, so the guys working in the factory are going to be far less exposed to various hazards than they would be on-site,” he said.
“When the cladding panels arrive, we have a team of four operatives working on the north west core, plus one on the crane and a couple of engineers, which reduces the number of workers exposed to threats. In a regular brickwork build, the whole building would be scaffolded and we would require heavy machinery to move the bricks and other materials, so doing it this way cuts the construction time dramatically. Another problem is that the factory’s quality assurance is considerably beyond what we can guarantee on site when the brick cladding arrives.
The dark red brick design interwoven into the panels will resemble the old Goodison Park latticework, initially pioneered by Scottish stadium architect Archibald Leitch. Computer-aided design is used again to honour Everton’s history in the new stadium.
“The design team put a lot of effort into the software to ensure that every panel has the pattern perfectly set out, so that under factory conditions we could individually place the bricks exactly into the mould, knowing we are always going to get the correct brick in the correct location, which will ultimately create the Leitch truss pattern,” Mr. Young said.
“Then at the factory, we use augmented reality to check the panels for quality and make sure every dark red brick is where it should be in the design. Finally, we’ll receive the Leitch truss pattern. Although the panels are somewhat uniform, the gaps between them are not, so every brick panel has a distinct pattern. This was the architect’s challenge.
Wrexham building firm’s school achieves Net Zero award
Original Source: Wrexham construction firm’s school project wins Net Zero award
Wrexham-based main contractor wins national Net Zero award.
Read Construction won the Constructing Excellence Net Zero Award for their Shropshire Council Vanguard Building project.
The project team competed against five other UK award-winning projects in the national awards after winning the West Midlands category earlier in the year.
The judging panel recognised the integrated team of designers, client, school stakeholders, contractor, and supply partners for their dedication to climate change solutions in the first year of the Net Zero category.
Meole Brace School’s future-proofed education facility achieves Net Zero operational carbon, setting a new standard for Shropshire Council’s sustainability.
Its ingenious design helps mitigate climate change.
This net-zero-carbon project improved biodiversity and habitats.
The local authority’s “zero-carbon” Vanguard Building shows its climate change response.
Read Construction director Alex Read stated, “We are thrilled to have been rewarded for our Net Zero achievements at Meole Brace, especially in Construction Excellence’s new award area.”
Summary of today’s construction news
Overall, we discussed today, that this week, Warrington and Vale Royal College presented their plans for a significant development project. The college property is being put up for sale by the Warrington Borough Council in preparation for future development.
Meanwhile, in London, the EHA Group of Derry, Northern Ireland, took home two awards for excellence in the building and construction industries. Both the Contractor of the Year (over £5m) and Health and Safety Gold Winner awards were given to EHA Group.
In addition, Stagg Architects’ minimalist renovation of a space in Clerkenwell. Two buildings would be joined and enlarged in this plan, with glass panels in an industrial design to improve visibility.
Also, Leicester’s downtown office building from the 1960s could be demolished to make way for around 400 apartments, including student housing and James House on Welford Road will be demolished after approval from the city council.
Furthermore, the new home of Everton’s riverside stadium is Bramley Moore Dock. Half a million bricks will be used to cover the exterior of Everton’s new stadium, making it blend in with its waterfront setting.
Moreover, the Shropshire Council Vanguard Building by Read Construction was the recipient of the Constructing Excellence Net Zero Award. After winning the West Midlands category earlier in the year, the project team participated in the national competitions against five other award-winning projects from the UK.
