NEWS

College extension project

Work on a two-storey extension at New College Durham’s Framwellgate Moor Campus is set to commence following Esh Construction being appointed as design and build contractor. The £8.9 million development will be constructed as an extension to the College’s modern state-of-the-art-facilities.

The appointment of Durham-based Esh Construction will provide a wealth of benefits for the area through the employment of a local workforce and procurement of a local supply chain. As Esh’s Pre-Construction Director, Chris Hale noted the business is passionate about delivering social value within its local communities. “Throughout the scheme we have committed to employing local apprentices, offering work experience for T-Level placements, and arranging tailored site visits to allow construction students to use the live site as part of their studies,” he said.

Designed by Ryder Architecture, the building will include adaptable spaces and technologies making it more flexible for different educational delivery needs. A glazed central atrium will form the ‘heart of the building’, with work and breakout zones to encourage interaction and creativity. Specialist spaces for healthcare qualifications, and digital and science labs will also feature across the two floors.

New building for Helsinki

Sponda Ltd, one of Finland’s leading real estate asset management companies, is to build a new office building of approximately 16,000 square metres at Lauri Korpisen katu 9 in Tikkurila, Vantaa. Valmet, the leading global developer and supplier of process technologies, automation and services for the pulp, paper and energy industries will be the principal tenant, and over 700 people will work in the new building. Construction is set to begin in the latter part of 2022, with completion scheduled for late 2024.

The building’s design prioritises the flexibility of rooms, lighting in the open workspaces and energy efficiency. The office premises have been divided into separate zones that create natural meeting places and reduce the sound levels between the zones.

The property is aiming to achieve a class A energy performance rating (EPC) and a platinum-rated LEED environmental certificate. It will produce renewable energy for its own use, as well as prioritising indoor air quality. The development will also aim to comply with EU taxonomy requirements.

The office building, which will be developed mainly for Valmet’s use, still has 3,600 square metres of vacant office space available for rent, as well as approximately 2,400 square metres of leasable retail space. Network expansion

amBX has welcomed a new Danish partner into its network - IoT Simplified. amBX’s smart lighting and building software, SmartCore, enables key stakeholders in the supply chain to add extra value to their proposition. IoT Simplified is a commissioning engineering company that integrates ventilation, lighting, access control, meeting booking and several other systems under one single solution.

The Danish installer was seeking a flexible, openarchitecture platform that would allow it to simply link multiple systems, aggregate data and converge it all into a single source. This requires a system that can communicate in multiple languages or protocols simultaneously. amBX designs and develops software solutions for smart buildings and smart lighting with the aim to improve the smart building industry with interoperable solutions. It is passionate about partnerships and collaborations, providing key users with the very best smart, sustainable solutions for both new and old buildings – driving positive change globally.

As a partner of amBX, IoT Simplified will be able to add additional value to its solutions, completing installations faster and saving them money. The solution also helps it overcome data visualisation and technical challenges through bespoke integration. The ability to offer customers a custom UI is an added bonus; having a userfriendly front-end enables data that is captured to be viewed in real-time, interacted with and made useful.

Key role secured

The South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) has appointed Mott MacDonald to provide the technical support in the evaluation of options for improving the Supertram system.

The newly established SYMCA is looking to transform the South Yorkshire region, achieving significant economic growth, new jobs and reducing income inequality, while moving the city region to net zero carbon emissions by 2040. The Supertram light rail system, launched in 1995, has and will continue to play a vital part in meeting these ambitions, with its renewal integral to the region’s transport strategy.

Mott MacDonald has been appointed to develop a renewal strategy and accompanying business case that will deliver a mass transit network fit for the future for the benefit of local people and the economy.

The project will utilise Moata, Mott MacDonald’s digital solutions platform that is able to unlock social, economic and environmental value. It hosts solutions that use the power of data to solve pressing infrastructure problems. It is open, secure, scalable and adaptable, delivering predictive power in a geospatial context through advanced analytics and machine learning. Mott MacDonald’s Buildings and Cities team will use multiple relevant digital offerings including Moata Inspect, Moata Land Management, Moata Carbon Portal and Moata Geospatial.

Innovative move

Beard Construction has bought 180 acres of stunning woodland near Bristol in a ground-breaking move to offset its environmental impact with carbon sequestration. Biological carbon sequestration takes place when carbon is stored in natural environments. The process sees carbon dioxide binding to plants during photosynthesis, where it is purified and converted to oxygen. Woodland is considered one of the best forms of sequestration as it stores twice as much carbon as it emits. Early calculations suggest that the vast area – the size of more than 102 football pitches - could offset Beard’s entire annual carbon footprint. Known as Wrington Warren, the woodland is a rolling expanse of trees, bowers and pastures which nestles under the Mendip hills. Beard is investigating the possibility of using it as a peaceful environment for staff and company activities, as well as a space for ‘wilding’ activities for schoolchildren as part of the company’s on-going commitment to corporate social responsibility and community engagement. Locking in carbon

Shell Bitumen CarbonSink, a new bio-component binder that locks carbon within roads instead of releasing it back into the atmosphere, has been launched. The binder locks carbon into asphalt and bitumen, turning roads into technical ‘carbon sinks’. As the asphalt is recyclable, most of this carbon will not re-enter the atmosphere, even at the end of its life. High levels of asphalt recycling ensure that carbon is kept within a circular economy and stored within other applications.

“This solution is a great example of how innovation can help decarbonise construction and improve circularity at the same time,” said Raman Ojha, Vice President, Shell Construction and Road.

As well as removing and storing carbon, Shell Bitumen CarbonSink also helps construction companies to improve the sustainability of their operations by reducing the need for non-renewable resources in asphalt pavement construction.