The Wellcome Trust, Hinxton

Hinxton, UK

Project outline

New £95M, 15,000m² leading edge research development comprising the UK’s largest RSF facility, major data centre, wet laboratories, offices and support facilities. The South Field Project provides opportunity for spin off research from the adjacent Wellcome Trust Genome Campus also designed by Faber Maunsell and constructed in 1994-7.

The green field project required extensive upgrading/strengthening of the surrounding offsite services infrastructure to meet the project needs. The site is also environmentally sensitive and was not zoned for development so a detailed Environmental Impact Assessment was required to support the Planning Applications. Outline Planning Approval has also been obtained for a further 10,000m² of phased development.

Key features

• Complex building forms and cladding systems
• Green (sedum) roofs to the RSF and Ancillary Building
• Augered piled foundations, reinforced concrete substructures and superstructures, structural steelwork roof frames
• Exposed, curved and tapered structural steel fabricated box sections to the Offices and Ancillary Building
• Large below building car parks
• Extensive external solar shading by large roof overhangs, designed using computational shadow prediction techniques used to control and reduce solar heat gain to the occupied spaces.
• A modular approach to laboratory servicing with generic solutions and space provision for additional services, provide for flexibility in future use.
• Data Centre cooling designed for heat loads of 2000W/m² with provision for increasing to 4000W/m²
• High levels of redundancy built in to all critical systems
• Special attention to acoustic control of noise emissions/transfers both within buildings and on the site boundary
• Wind tunnel tests to determine discharge flue heights and to prove natural ventilation to the underground car park
• Creation of new wetland areas to provide local environmental and ecological benefits and also to provide increased compensatory flood plain volume to balance the increased stormwater runoff
• New offsite gas, electricity, and water mains laid to service the site and local Sewage Treatment Works upgraded.

Skills utilised

• Structural
• Building Services
• Acoustics
• Geotechnical
• Planning Supervisor
• Infrastructure