Beech Court Pavilion, Abingdon School

The new Beech Court Pavilion at Abingdon School in Oxfordshire has been constructed to connect the existing Amey Theatre to the main school via a dynamic, multi-functional space, set within a garden setting. The complex steel canopy frame and exposed glulam diagrid-style roof was installed by B&K Structures flawlessly on site in just eight weeks, along with also completing the connection design.

A key design ambition was to connect the students to nature, and the final visual impact of the pavilion is truly impressive - showcasing the aesthetic and biophilic benefits timber can bring to an education setting.

Beech Court Pavilion seamlessly blends slender glulam beams and a supporting steel structure - crowned by green roof planting above extensive glazed elevations – to form an elegant and multi-functional space for dining, study and social activities, with green views in all directions. 

The project team brought together David Morley Architects and Engineers HRW, with Beard Construction as the main contractor.  B&K Structures (BKS), the UK’s leading specialist timber and timber-steel subcontractor, was awarded the contract to complete connection design, fabricate and erect the complex octagon roof, with 35m3 of visual grade glulam beams manufactured by BKS’ timber supply chain partner Rubner.

Design

Alastair Wood, Senior Architect, David Morley Architects, said:  “The design concept was to create an elegant pavilion that provides a flexible dining space within a garden setting.

This put an emphasis on the transparency of the façade, daylight and connection between inside and outside - a key element of which was to have a continuous glazed external perimeter, with a roof floating above, with generous overhangs to provide solar shade to the interior and shelter to the outdoor spaces.”

BKS Drawing Office Manager, Glyn Hubbard said: “Every project brings a number of challenges to be overcome - including coordination of information from other sub-contractors and trades and tight site programmes.

However, this was exacerbated on Abingdon Beech Court, given the complexity of the roof structure setting-out, and the individuality of the connections to be made, while simultaneously achieving the aesthetics throughout.”
 

Construction

The sheer complexity of the pavilion’s roof structure posed unique challenges in terms of design, planning, prefabrication and the subsequent installation, as Andy Holland, BKS Operations Manager, at BKS explained:

“We had to build the roof as four separate quadrants supported by temporary falsework columns. However, as they met at different angles of pitch, the geometry of the connections was very complex and required strong technical skill. As a result, a constantly changing variety of stub plates coming off the main steelwork were required.

The buildability and temporary works review was also unusually challenging, and the tolerances on both fabrication and installation were far tighter than is normal: a maximum of 5mm rather than 10mm – meaning even a very small error on the steelwork would have made it impossible to align and fix the glulam beams.”

B&K Structures met and addressed these construction challenges successfully through a collaborative process that combined developing engineersHRW’s 3D model into fabrication information, a meticulous logistics plan, regular engineer’s inspections and early engagement from the BKS installation project manager.

Finally, minimal yet skilful alterations were made by the BKS erection team on site including cutting, realigning, tack-welding, re-checking and completing a full arc-weld in situ.

Sustainability

The Pavilion exemplifies the capabilities of structural timber: not only meeting the clients’ aesthetic and biophilic requirements, the timber on the project brought a number of sustainability credentials, with the 34.896M3 of glulam sequestering 24.543 tonnes of CO2e from the atmosphere.

Contributing to circular economy principles, when properly fabricated, installed and maintained, the structural timber also offers a long working life with the potential for reuse, while PEFC chain of custody guarantees all of the trees used will have been replaced by new growth in just 7 seconds. 

Overall, the flawless result at Abingdon School is testament to the close design collaboration from the project delivery team and the technical expertise from BKS.