Hulleys are delighted to announce the following projects have been short listed for two out of the five nominated under the category of ‘Building Services (Medium Firm)’ at the forthcoming ACE Engineering Excellence Awards.
The two Hulley projects shortlisted to win this prestigious award are Hoddinott Hall and Hull Oncology.
Hoddinott Hall, Cardiff Bay
Hoddinott Hall is the new home of the National Orchestra of Wales. It is a beautiful and useful adjunct to the Wales Millennium Centre, constructed to provide a state-of-the-art building for the BBC. This concert hall cannot be compared to other music halls due to its unique design. A double skinned ‘box within a box’ concept was incorporated, combined with a high specifcation accoustic design which necessitated innovative M&E solutions to match.
The most important services criterion of the project was the level of acoustics required, which needed to be second-to-none. Specialist low level hard-wood panels with oak flooring and 9cm thick veneers were installed in order to reflect the sound. The hall’s acoustics have been deemed excellent by the musicians that have tested it thus far.
Another important element of the brief was the lighting. Unlike other concert halls, Hoddinott Hall has windows placed high in one of the walls of the hall. They are triple glazed to ensure no outside noise can be detected and they let in a level of natural light – something that delighted the players due to their rarity in recording studios.
This was the most acoustically challenging project in the UK, if not Europe, to date.
Hull Oncology, Castle Hill Hospital
Hull Oncology and Haematology Unit at Castle Hill Hospital represents one of the largest capital investments in the region for the past 100 years.
It is a UK Centre of Excellence for the treatment of patients with cancer and blood disorders in a catchment area that encompasses around 1.2 million people. The underlying philosophy of the M&E design was to provide a safe and comfortable environment via the following key elements;
· Ensuring systems were as energy efficient as possible;
· Limit environmental impact;
· Provide appropriate and simplistic automatic controls;
· Provide inherent expansion capability;
· Ensure adequate maintenance space and flexibility;
· Resilience philosophy capable of dealing with many supply failure scenarios.
Notable technical challenges experienced included the difficult topology on the hillside location, high water table and an extremely complex construction programme with phased access and handover dates.
