STEM Centre for Excellence, Middlesbrough
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Summary
Building skills in an industrial heartland
Middlesbrough College built a £20m training centre specialising in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). It simulates real industrial working environments to deliver training and qualifications.
The STEM Training Centre is part of a drive to transform Teesside's industrial heartland and help the workforce in the area build the skills and knowledge they need for their careers. These include manufacturing, various engineering disciplines, oil and gas, digital warehousing and logistics.
Training courses are offered for people already employed who want to improve their skills, as well as those with no prior experience who are looking to get a job in the industrial sector.
Services installed
Robertson Engineering Services' scope was to design and install the mechanical, electrical and plumbing services. We concentrated on renewable energy, including a solar photovoltaic heating system and a wind turbine.
The electrical system had to accommodate high specification equipment in several manufacturing workshops and engineering training areas, and included specialist systems such as compressed air.
Mechanical services installed include: LTHW heating, hot water generation, hot and cold domestic services, gas flues, natural gas, compressed air, mechanical and natural ventilation, smoke extraction and, BMS controls.
Electrical services installed include: distribution boards and circuits; internal, external and emergency lighting; fire detection, intruder alarm, access control, CCTV, disabled WC alarm system, induction loop, photovoltaic system, wind turbine and lightning protection.
During the construction period, several site visits were arranged for the students of Middlesbrough College.
Achieving excellent environmental performance
In the pre-construction phase, during design development of the client's brief, there were challenges in achieving the required performance for the intended BREEAM rating, the thermal model and the fire strategy.
Our designers worked proactively with the client team and reran the thermal model on several occasions, concentrating on the fine detail of the mechanical and electrical installation in order to reach a solution.
The fire strategy was achieved with the introduction of additional smoke dampers, which allowed safe egress routes from all areas of the building.
The project achieved a BREEAM Excellent rating.
Robertson have been very good to work with, they've sorted out a very tricky design. I'd like to work with them again.
