Buxton's health and safety laboratory is situated in the High Peak National Park within the Peak District in Derbyshire. Being in an area of outstanding natural beauty it is remote from any significant utilities infrastructure, so a major part of this £45m design and construction project involved Buro Happold working closely with the local authority and utility providers.
The large scale of the laboratory, which has a floor area of 22,000 m2, and the specialised construction requirements meant that this project represented a massive technical building services challenge. Notable features include Category 3 containment laboratories for pathogen testing and blast chambers designed to contain controlled explosions. Within the ceiling voids is a labyrinth of laboratory gasses, cabling, specialist water supplies and different classes of ventilation ductwork. Under the government's private finance initiative, the building was subject to rigorous testing against best value and availability criteria.
Date: Completed in 2003
