Dalkia was appointed by Galliford Try to deliver the building services installation in a new three-storey learning and teaching centre for Durham University.
Located at the heart of the University it provides a world-class environment. Alongside the new lecture and teaching rooms the Centre will utilise leading and emerging technologies that allow students to share courses in real time with Institutions around the world.
From the outset Dalkia worked collaboratively with Galliford Try to design and deliver the building services installation to the facility, including a 500-seat lecture theatre. A key element of the design was to ensure that it carefully fitted into the surrounding area and did not impair the views of Durham’s World Heritage Site. Due to its location and being a Heritage Site, the building was subject to height restrictions in places, this meant that many of the services had to be fitted into tight spaces within the service zones, ceiling voids and floors. Further challenges were presented by the MEP services being built ‘back to front’ with the plant room and switch rooms being installed last.
The new building has established Durham University as an innovation hub for education. As a challenging project we successfully attained EPC A rating and BREEAM Excellent and due to the shape of the building all the services were hidden by Cofed ceilings, requiring an meticulous level of project co-ordination. Key to the project’s success was the use of BIM Level 2, delivered in house that enabled structural and co-ordination challenges to be overcome.
