Price & Myers provided structural and civil engineering services for a new zero-carbon research building at the University of Nottingham's Faculty of Engineering. Delivered in partnership with Research England and industry collaborators, the facility is purpose-built for testing hybrid and electrified propulsion systems used in cars, aircraft and other vehicles.
The central challenge was in creating a large, column-free industrial space capable of supporting heavy loads, with a roof structure that would span the double-height testing areas. The building's layout was driven by the scale of the multi-megawatt machinery the department works with, and how that equipment would be brought in and moved through the space. The facility is split into specialised testing 'cells', allowing researchers to replicate a range of environments.
The university chose a site for the project that had been previously developed. To accommodate poor ground conditions and heavy plant loading, we adopted a suspended ground floor slab with a close grid of 8m deep piles, while the upper floor was designed to cantilever over the building's entrance.
An important constraint was the site's relatively low ground level and proximity to the River Leen, which puts it at risk of flooding. Following discussions with the Environment Agency, it was agreed that the site's finished floor levels should sit above the 1-in-100-year-plus-climate-change flood level, with all sensitive equipment raised a further 240mm above this to meet the Environment Agency's "Site Safety Level" requirement. A comprehensive cut-and-fill exercise raised the site level while maintaining accessibility for pedestrians and large vehicles.
'The difficult step is moving from a promising laboratory result to representative hardware that can be manufactured, connected and tested at meaningful power. This building provides that missing platform, helping reduce development risk and retain expertise, intellectual property and future industrial activity in the UK.'
Professor Chris Gerada, Director of the Zero Carbon Cluster, University of Nottingham
