Year
2016
Category
Schools and Colleges
Client
Leybourne Urwin / McVickers / Willmott Dixon Construction
Location
Newton Aycliffe, Durham
Project Value
£6M
South Durham UTC
TGA Consulting Engineers LLP were employed by Leybourne Urwin and McVickers under design and build duties to undertake the M&E Design associated with the new South Durham UTC, the first University Technical College in the North East.
Project Summary
Given the confined nature of the site and it’s city centre location, both noise and air quality were major considerations for the development. These were addressed through the provision of demand controlled ventilation to the majority of the building.
The project had stringent Planning Requirements and Conditions, including those required to avoid noise and pollution issues but also, to achieve increased ‘improvements’ over current Building Regulations with regard to Carbon reduction.
The £6m 3 storey project is procured through the Scape framework by Willmott Dixon Construction
South Durham UTC is intended to offer young people with the opportunity to gain both an academic and technical education working closely with employers to enable them to be qualified to work in sectors that are growing and looking for skilled staff.
Its three founding members are the University of Sunderland, Hitachi Rail Europe and Gestamp Tallent with the UTC being located very close to the new Hitachi Rail Europe assembly plant which was also delivered by TGA.
The new facility includes a triple-height atrium capable of housing large scale work or machinery, teaching spaces, staff offices, a multi-purpose lecture theatre, computing and IT suites. It also includes a sports hall and external sports pitches.
TGA’s design proposals are fully compliant with Education Funding Agency requirements. Full LED lighting systems have been incorporated along with a PV array on the roof. TGA have also developed a series of details to demonstrate how containment systems can be routed through the atrium.
