Main ContractorKier Construction
ArchitectHopkins Architects
Structural EngineerEngenuiti
LocationHertford
Dates2022

Haileybury SciTech, where B&K Structures recently delivered the cross laminated timber and glulam for the school’s new teaching block and research block on behalf of Kier Group - has now officially opened to pupils and staff.

The new SciTech Centre aims to unify the existing campus and promote connectivity between STEM disciplines.Haileybury's vision is to integrate the existing buildings and new accommodation around a courtyard, bringing the disciplines together both symbolically and physically. The first establishment in Europe to engage with Stanford University’s Stan-X research programme, it features state-of-the-art laboratories, IT and robotics suites, and 20 inter-connected seminar spaces.

B&K Structures were selected to design, manufacture and erect the CLT wall, floor and roof panels with supporting glulam columns and beams for the structural frame of the three-storey, 50 metre long Teaching Block and two-storey and 15 x 15m Research Block, as well as an elegant light-filled cloister which links the two and offers a focus for the square, formed by the old and new buildings. This required innovative timber connection and member design by our in-house team of skilled Structural Engineers.

For Haileybury SciTech, strong technical engineering and an in-depth understanding of the materials enabled the complex design details to work efficiently, while appearing elegant and effortless.

The Teaching Block adopts a hipped roof form with a series of pitched glulam beams, clear spanning at regular centres with stainless steel ties, offering visual lightness and material efficiency. Linked via a glulam framed cloister, the Research Block has a central spine wall supporting the first floor and roof and a feature CLT stair extends from ground to first floor, trimmed with glulam beams.

The roof forms a truncated pyramid featuring a central butterfly roof, while glulam beams cantilever from the spine wall, propped at each end by hip beams extending down to the perimeter ring beam. The elegant design of the connections between the hip members and the tension and compression rings was key to the success of the final design.

As with many Education projects, speed of delivery was a key factor, and schools often require expedited construction phases to coincide with term times. Prefabrication of details in the factory, rather than on site, helped to achieve an impressive 12-week build schedule, delivering rates of progress on site of 90 m3 per week. Multiple cut-outs, enabling routing of services, and lifting devices including hidden dowels, were incorporated into the CLT in the factory to meet & exceed the client’s speed & quality finish expectations safely.

An exemplar of timber construction, this unique Education facility has doubled the size of the school’s previous provision while supporting their Net Zero sustainability goals.The vision for the new SciTech project is to provide space for not only practical work and theoretical study but science research to be integrated into the curriculum.

These experimental and interactive spaces - including laboratories housing the Stan-X programme, run in collaboration with professors from Stanford University - open the rear of the existing 1930s science building, while enhancing natural light and views of the school site. Alongside utilising low carbon structural timber, the buildings also feature solar panels, green roofs, and ground-source heat pumps.

“This project is the result of two years’ consideration of the School’s estate, its history, the present and the future. We are committed to sustainability and are delighted that our architects have provided a design which meets the highest environmental standards.

We are proud that the buildings feature many sustainable elements as we bring science to life and strive to reach our Net Zero targets. The construction of these innovative spaces prioritises sustainability, with features such as cross-laminated timber. The launch of Haileybury’s SciTech Centre heralds a new era of innovation for current and future Haileyburians.”
Martin Collier
Master at Haileybury

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