WS Atkins plc - World class Institute reaches start on site

Further strengthening its education portfolio, the Newcastle office of design and engineering consultants Atkins is celebrating the start-on-site of an innovative research facility at Durham University.
The £4.2 million project will see the Atkins team delivering architecture, engineering and project management services for the Institute of Hazard and Risk Research, a major new University initiative aimed at generating a step change in thinking about hazard and risk and harnessing this research to inform global policy agendas.
The eye-catching facility that will link into the University’s existing Geography building is to feature state-of-the-art laboratories, seminar and meeting rooms, spacious offices, a Director’s suite, break-out space, and attractive external landscaping – all of which have been designed to maximise the potential for research collaboration and intellectual vibrancy, and to give the building iconic presence on the University campus.
An interesting characteristic of the new facility is a dramatic sedum green roof and sunken floor, which will make the Institute appear to be merging into the existing landscape, having been cut into a steep sloping bank on the Durham University science campus site.
With the Atkins team’s commitment to using locally sourced products wherever possible, natural stone cladding from a quarry in County Durham is being employed on the new facility’s main entrance. Furthermore, natural daylight and ventilation will be a major aspect of the building, with coloured feature glazing being utilised within all its main elevations.
Ron Walton, project manager for Atkins, said: “From the project’s inception we have worked very closely with Durham University’s team to create a high quality environment for the users of the building through the use of natural materials, including natural stone and timber, different shades of coloured glass in the external windows to create a subtle variation and ‘colour shifts’ on the façade, and a sedum green roof.
“Atkins is committed to creating innovative and exciting designs and to that end our team is very much looking forward to seeing our vision for this pioneering building take shape.”
Simon Watt, Senior Project Manager, from Durham University, said: “Once completed IHRR will be a base for the fertilisation and facilitation of new forms of hazard and risk research, bringing researchers together around projects from across the social, natural and engineering sciences.
“I am very much looking forward to seeing the new Institute upon its completion in October 2007. It will be opened as part of the University’s 175th anniversary celebrations.”

Email: alice.andreasen@clothierlacey.co.uk