Wallpaper that can glow with light and bendable flat-panel screens are a step closer thanks to research into organic LEDs (OLEDs), which are widely hailed as the next generation of environmentally friendly lighting technology. See the Guardian report here.
A new building for one of Britain’s oldest schools, constructed off site by Portakabin subsidiary, Yorkon, has won the Building Schools for the Future Award at the Builder and Engineer Awards.
Designed by P+HS Architects, the Hubert Jones Science Centre at Christ College in Brecon provides facilities which are unrivalled in Wales, as part of a major commitment to help develop the next generation of young scientists.
The award recognised the project’s high quality design and how it applied education construction best practice to a scheme built off site. The construction team successfully delivered an exceptional building that will inspire pupils to study science, and which is also highly sustainable and flexible.
The use of off-site construction ensured completion of the centre in just five months despite the challenging site, minimising any disturbance to staff and pupils. 16 steel-framed building modules were manufactured off site in York and craned into position during school holidays to further minimise any disruption to teaching.
Christ College was founded by Royal Charter in 1541 by King Henry VIII and has buildings on its campus, which date back to the 13th Century. Because of this and the building’s sensitive location in the Brecon Beacons National Park, the design incorporated local materials such as Welsh sandstone from Llangorse Quarry, together with render and timber cladding to complement the surrounding architecture.
The scheme also features a number of sustainable measures to minimise impact on the environment, such as solar water heating to reduce energy consumption, energy-efficient lighting, natural ventilation and daylight, and high levels of insulation to conserve energy.
The two-storey building expands the science facilities at this independent boarding and day school, bringing all the laboratories together under one roof and replacing an outdated 1950s block.
Two physics and two biology laboratories, a sixth form project room, and laboratory technician’s rooms are grouped around a double height central atrium that functions as an additional teaching area and exhibition space. This central ‘street’ also allows pupils to move through the space at peak times and gather informally before and after lessons.
The building has been designed to be flexible and adaptable to change. The internal walls are non load-bearing and there are clear internal spans of up to 12m, so the teaching spaces and laboratories can easily be reconfigured to meet the school’s changing requirements over time.
For those of you looking for guidance as designers with regard to safe access for maintenance and repair, I would recommend the latest CIRIA Document C686 “Safe Access for Maintenance & Repair” downloadable from the IHS information service. Chapter 2 is particularly useful, giving indicative guidance in making decisions in respect of working at height.
You should also be aware of other useful CIRIA guidance ( also available through our information service) as follows:
CIRIA C604 CDM Regulations – Work sector guidance for designers
CIRIA C662 - CDM2007 Construction work sector guidance for designers
CIRIA C663 - CDM2007 Workplace in-use guidance for designers
The Workplace in-use guidance is particularly of interest, and reminds us that as designers we need to ensure that hazards & risks are considered for the workplaces included in our designs, also ensuring compliance with the Workplace (Health, Safety & Welfare) Regulations 1992.
Those of you working in the healthcare sector will no doubt be aware that the acoustic design of healthcare buildings was re-thought with the introduction of HTM 08-01, in particular the method of selecting appropriate acoustic partitions was seriously overhauled. While the changes took the guesswork out of selecting the required laboratory sound insulation value for partitions, the maths involved in working out the requirements gave me a headache and it took a very long time to work out all of the partition requirements for the first project I carried out under this HTM.
As a result I set up a spreadsheet to take the pain out of the calculations and speed the whole process up, and you can now find this sheet on the intranet should you wish to use it, oddly enough, under the title “HTM 08-01 Calculator”. There are some explanatory notes on the first tab.
A word of warning though, the spreadsheet does a lot for you but you still need to have a basic understanding of the HTM and be aware that the HTM recommends that an acoustic consultant be employed to ensure an holistic approach to acoustic design on all projects.
http://www.safetyindesign.org/
Just a reminder of this valuable information site for designers
SiD - Safety in Design Ltd is a not for profit company that exists to support designers in the built environment. It is by industry and for industry.
The following is posted on their web site:
“ FEEDBACK - All the speakers at the recent CIRIA “Designers Dilemmas” workshop on the 8th October spoke against numerical design risk assessments and HSE confirmation of this was also provided. Want to know more? Sign up for the newsletter now! Want to comment? Do so on the Discussion Forum.”
I have signed up for their newsletter and will pass this round to all.
The CIRIA workshop confirms what we have all suspected for some time. I will be suggesting we review our own procedures in order to try to make them simpler, however, risk does need to be assessed & evaluated for hazards identified in order for appropriate responses to be made.
In the meantime, everybody’s views welcome.
