New World Headquarters For Vodafone Airtouch
Work has started on site at the new 51,600m2 world headquarters of Vodafone in Newbury, Berkshire. The facility, designed by Fletcher Priest Architects, replaces a number of offices presently in use throughout the Newbury area and will accommodate approximately 3,000 employees.
Scheduled for completion by the end of 2003, the development will comprise a cluster of seven independent buildings – each with two sections - oined by an atrium, with a series of linked ponds forming a central feature of the development.
Construction company Associated Solutions Limited – Bovis Lend Lease is the main contractor - appointed May Gurney to undertake piling on the project. The Newbury site is underlain by chalk and, in the light of the present on-going debate over design parameters for bored piles in chalk, May Gurney used its extensive experience to resolve the issue in advance of the main contract piling and provide a more cost-effective solution for the project.
John Chick, May Gurney southern piling manager, explains: “Working closely with Buro Happold, the project structural, civil and geotechnical engineer, we carried out a series of preliminary pile load tests on piles of incrementally different lengths at different locations, to prove both our design concept and the detailed site specific parameters.”
Having proven that its design was both effective and could save costs, May Gurney was appointed to install 1,100 No. CFA piles of 450mm diameter, down to 12.5 metres, to provide the foundations as part of the enabling works.
Contracts manager at Associated Solutions Limited, Andrew Davies, said: “We were very impressed with the innovative re-design which May Gurney put forward for the project. It is a more effective solution which will allow us to make substantial savings.”
The development is located on the 37-acre Old Newbury Showground site. Its design imposes minimal impact on the environment and includes the remodelling of the landscape to form heavily planted mounding, enabling the buildings to be screened from the adjacent A339 to the west and housing to the east.
A significant earthworks operation started in June using on-site materials including old tarmac instead of unsustainable aggregate resources, to achieve soil stabilisation. This helped avoid lorry movements to and from the site, while minimising the high costs of transportation as well as any disruption to the local road system.
“To provide the best possible working environment for the occupants, the environmental credentials of the building are high,” explains Nick Nelson, group director of Buro Happold. “A chilled beam air conditioning system makes use of the thermal mass of the building through an exposed slab soffit.
“With over 50,000 sq m2 of slabs, the principal challenge of the structural engineering of the building frames was for us to design a system that is simple and quick to construct, and yet delivers best value for the client. We investigated numerous options before agreeing that the best solution was the traditional flat slab. This system still delivers simplicity, speed and efficiency, while being one of the most economic forms of construction in an edge of town development,” added Nelson.
Buro Happold also worked with Fletcher Priest to develop the atrium roofs. A traditional double-glazed solution has been replaced with ETFE foils, delivering significant savings to the client while providing a better controlled thermal environment, quality of light and acoustic performance in the atrium space.
May Gurney Group includes five operating companies all linked to the construction industry, providing specialist services and technology that meet the requirements of modern engineering practice. The Group's activities include building, civil engineering with particular emphasis on road and rail sectors, site investigation, piling, design services, fencing, structural steel and site remediation, road surfacing, land drainage, surface dressing and plant hire. For further information contact May Gurney Group head office at Trowse, Norwich, NR14 8SZ. Telephone: 01603 727272. Fax: 01603 727400.
Buro Happold is a multi-disciplinary international practice of consulting engineers, which was established in 1976. It offers civil and structural engineering, mechanical and electrical engineering, quantity surveying, building services and environmental engineering, infrastructure and traffic engineering, geotechnical engineering, façade engineering, fire engineering, computational Fluid Dynamics analysis, access consultancy, project management, urban design and a range of specialist CAD services. For further information contact Buro Happold, Camden Mill, Lower Bristol Road, Bath BA2 3DQ. Telephone: 01225 320600, fax: 01225 320601.
For further media information about the new Vodafone world headquarters, please contact:
Vodafone - Mike Caldwell on 01635 33251
Buro Happold – Ali Hobbs on 01225 320600 (ext. 2316)
May Gurney – Lucy Ohsten (FSW) on 01508 491403
Issued on behalf of May Gurney Group
and Buro Happold by FSW Group
Manor Farm Barns, Fox Road, Framingham Pigot,
Norwich NR14 7PZ
