Client: Durham University
Location: Durham
Value: £9.2m
Project Outline: The Ogden Centre for Fundamental Physics is a world-leading centre of excellence in fundamental physics research at Durham University. The building was a new three-storey facility providing 2,465m2 of highly specialised research, teaching and conference space for professors, academic staff and students, and private institutions. The building enables both the Institute for Computational Cosmology and the Institute for Particle Physics Phenomenology to remain at the forefront of research as they seek to advance our understanding of particle physics and the structure and evolution of the universe.
Services: Project Management, Contract Administration, Quantity Surveying
Roles and Achievements:
Pre-construction site investigations showed that the ground was contaminated. We facilitated an enabling contract to sterilise the site so that time was not lost in the construction programme.
We carried out detailed Whole Life Costing exercises at RIBA 2 stage and again at RIBA 3 stage, which influenced the final selection of façade and the heating and cooling design principles.
We ensured that the contractor implemented all the Good Practice measures one would expect on a major construction site within a live area.
The project achieved a BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating.
We made a positive contribution to carbon management and assisted in achieving significant reductions in carbon emissions. We reviewed design proposals with the designers and University to identify sustainable procurement routes and to assess the viability of incorporating carbon-friendly products, building methods and sustainable technology.
