Construction Management Practice:
Proposal for a new Higher Education Unit in Smallford, St Albans. Herts
Source: www.newsteelconstruction.com
Carla Harris
January 2013
Contents
Introduction 4 Structure and Internal Dimensions 5 Access in and out of the site 7 Space and storage of materials 8 Legal and professional matters 9 Planning and building regulations requirements 12 Site office and facilities requirements 14 Plant, labour and material requirements 15 Soft floor finish specifications 16 Appendices 17 Appendix 1 – Site Overview 18 Appendix 2 – Sports and Teaching Facility 19 Appendix 3 – Modcell “Balehaus” Straw Bale Case study 22 Appendix 4 – Croydon College Rotunda 23 Appendix 5 – Site Access 24 Appendix 6 – Site Storage and Facilities 27 Appendix 7 – Floor and Furniture Plans 29 Appendix 8 – Planning 30 References 31
Introduction
This introduction presents a number of interviews, meetings and site visits carried out in respect of a proposed £10 million, 40 week construction programme for a new higher education unit (“The Works”) at The University of Hertfordshire (“The Client”), Smallford , St Albans. Meetings and site visits have enabled this report to review the client brief, feasibility of requirements and potential project limitations. In addition, the requirements of the assignment and factors such as internal dimensions, access, storage of materials, legal matters, planning and building regulations, site facilities, labour / plant / material requirements and certain specifications have also been addressed.
The client has recently taken possession of a new sports facility and teaching centre built on the Smallford campus in St Albans. Featuring a two storey, steel framed structure the building incorporates a low carbon and environmentally responsive environment alongside a sustainable urban drainage system. To the west of this development, east of Home Wood but north of South Drive is a Brownfield site which occupies an area of approximately 1.5 Ha or 3.9 Acres (see appendix 1). Following an interview on 5 October 2012 with the client’s representative Mr Nick Hardman, certain requirements were laid out in the form of a client brief, for example the University wish to model the higher education unit on the new sports facility and teaching centre, incorporating ‘green’ construction and giving consideration for size, function and services.
On the 23 November 2012 a site visit to the new sports facility was conducted to determine the achievability of the client’s requirements. According to Smith (2011) the budget to construct the sports and teaching facility was in the region of £9 million pounds, therefore from a financial viewpoint features such as the external timber façade, natural ventilation system, sound buffers, automatic lighting system and the sustainable drainage system could all be incorporated into the new higher education unit.
After further discussions with Mr Paul Fielding the client’s Capital Project Manager and ISG Jackson Project Manager it was agreed that due to a number of specific requirements various features would not be suitable for this project, one of these being the internal design. Perkins and Will (2012) state “design of a higher education unit should take into consideration quiet spaces for focused work, technologically integrated classrooms for learning and informal collaborative areas to build communities”. Although modern in design the sports and teaching facility creates a minimalist, warehouse style environment (see appendix 2) and does not offer the quiet spaces and comfortable facilities that are required for this project.
Structure and Internal Dimensions
The structure, size and layout of the higher education unit are important considerations when certain aspects like sustainability, overcrowding and accessibility are part of the client brief. This section discusses proposals
