Willmott Dixon will be responsible for the design development, demolition and construction of new space for shops, new streets and spaces, a library, and new council offices.
Work involves demolition of the 1960s town hall (pictured) and library and also of an adjacent reinforced concrete building of retail units and offices. Asbestos is a known hazard on the project.
The new buildings include a two-storey library and community centre along with a larger retail and office building. The structure has a reinforced concrete, mostly single storey, plinth providing retail accommodation. This then has three interlinked three storey office blocks above.
To minimise the carbon footprint of the building, these will be built using a cross laminated timber construction using off-cuts from the sawmilling industry. These are fabricated into high strength loadbearing timber components without any factory waste and have low embodied carbon, according to the contractor. The buildings will be clad with masonry at lower level and lightweight brass and timber at the higher levels.
Energy efficiency will be built-in to the design, which is specified to achieve the top ‘A’ rating under the government’s Energy Performance Certification Scheme.
The project, still subject to planning consent, will be done in phases. Willmott Dixon will be working in partnership with the Council’s project team over the next six months to agree the detailed design and construction programme prior to a planned start on site in August 2012.
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