Leadbitter completes specialist research centre for the University of Worcester
(08/12/2009)

The Leadbitter Group has completed a specialist research centre for the National Pollen and Aerobiology Research Unit at the University of Worcester. The new specialist facility houses a state-of-the-art test room able to replicate any environment on the planet, from the Sahara Desert to the Arctic. As well as this climatic centrepiece, the two-storey building, located on the University’s St John’s Campus, provides new laboratories, teaching areas, administration facilities and two “clean rooms” for scientific experiments on allergens.

The specialist rooms require climate control facilities and have to be 100% sealed to make them air tight to allow for the testing of pollen and other airborne allergens. The research function of the Unit means that the building’s users need to be able to reduce the temperature to minus 20 degrees and vary the level of oxygen, in order to replicate different atmospheres.

Leadbitter worked closely with Design Environmental, which provided the specialist equipment; Cleanroom Design and Construction (CDC), the specialist contractor for the containment laboratories; and the Client to ensure that the function of the completed building met the University’s precise requirements and to overcome any logistical difficulties to ensure the equipment could be installed into the building.

Mark Hookins, Project Manager for Leadbitter, explains: “Exact specifications for the plant room were required at an early stage in the design process, as the concrete frame design had to incorporate any structural openings needed. We overcame this challenge by getting together all parties - including the structural engineer, architect and mechanical and electrical services engineers - for a full planning meeting. We then had to schedule deliveries into the building as the works progressed and before the envelope was closed, in a sequence that allowed other works to continue. The result is that all the plant fits into the space, leaving room for maintenance access and for the University to expand the range of equipment when they need to.”

Despite the complex nature of the build, the Client was so happy with Leadbitter’s work that it gave the Company an additional contract to fit out the first floor of the building, a phase of work which is now complete and was handed over a week early.