The redeveloped Stephenson Building at Newcastle University provides a world-class engineering hub, bringing together a wide range of disciplines - designed with a focus on fostering collaboration and inspiring the next generation of engineers. The five-storey education building is a hybrid timber-steel structure with a steelwork frame and a complex structural timber roof, consisting of glue laminated (glulam) beams and Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) panels.
Specialist hybrid subcontractor B&K Hybrid Solutions (BKHS) worked closely with the client team and their supply chain partners to design, manufacture and install this innovative and complex structure, with offsite construction playing a pivotal role.
Originally opened in 1951 by the Duke of Edinburgh, the Stephenson Building has been extensively redeveloped to create a modern educational facility that meets the evolving needs of Newcastle University’s students and academics. The design focused on turning the traditional cellular academic building ‘inside out’, by transforming it into a facility centred around a vibrant atrium space.
The £70m redevelopment now offers over 18,000m2 of new and refurbished facilities including two 180-person state-of-the-art lecture theatres, digital learning spaces, a ‘makers space’, rapid prototyping and 3D printing facilities, and bio-engineering laboratories, as well as an open plan social space in the full height five storey atrium. The aim is to provide a new centre for education, research, innovation and collaboration, both across the engineering disciplines it will house and with external industry partners.
For the redevelopment of the Stephenson Building, Newcastle University selected an expert project team including NORR Architects for the design, Bowmer + Kirkland as main contractor and structural engineers s h e d. The redevelopment is a combination of new construction and preservation of elements of the existing building. A benefit of this approach was the reduction of the overall carbon footprint of the redevelopment - areas of the building that could be adapted to the new design concept were retained, while others were demolished to allow for new structural elements.
Working closely with the university, NORR Architects developed a bespoke sustainability model for the project, through which a hybrid timber-steel structure proved to be the most sustainable solution. A structural steel frame was selected to provide the highest loading capacity, while engineered timber - in the form of a glulam diagrid roof and CLT roof deck - reduced the overall weight and lowered the total embodied carbon of the project compared to other higher carbon material options.
B&K Hybrid Solutions, with over 20 years’ experience delivering hybrid timber-steel projects, were awarded the contract to design and deliver the structural frame and roof. The hybrid design features Y-branch steel columns rising the full height of the main atrium, carrying the complex roof structure. In addition to glulam beams and CLT panels, the roof also features a composite metal deck towards the rear of the building, multiple roof lights and a large expanse of roof glazing to bring daylight into the interior.
BKHS delivered both the steel and engineered timber elements of the hybrid package ensuring simpler and smoother project delivery. The company were involved from the early stages of the project and engaged with regular supply chain partners Stora Enso and Hasslacher to manufacture the CLT and glulam components. Specialist timber engineer Engenuiti were appointed to design the intricate connections and other timber details, while BKHS supplied and delivered to steelwork elements.
Craig Robinson, Operations Manager at BKHS said:
“The Stephenson Building presented another welcomed opportunity to work with our key client, Bowmer + Kirkland, and our supply chain partners Stora Enso and Hasslacher. These long-standing relationships ensured we were able to benefit from established working procedures, ultimately helping to achieve the highest standards of accuracy delivered on this project.”
The building’s cranked shape - along with the diagonal arrangement of the glulam elements, a four-metre-wide overhang, and the combination of steel, glulam beams, and CLT with composite metal decks - presented key challenges during the design process.
Harry Snook, Senior Engineer at Engenuiti explained:
“Multiple cases, conditions, and interfaces made the connection design complicated. Everything was modelled except standard timber to timber screws to minimise the risk of issues on site. Complicated connections were developed to maintain continuity where beams crossed beams due to the diagonal arrangement. The complexity of the arrangement and internal forces meant little repetition in connections, requiring numerous bespoke connections to be individually designed and fabricated.”
The selection of an offsite manufactured solution was essential, allowing the accuracy and quality control needed to ensure the complex structure and bespoke connections could be delivered successfully. Further advantages were also offered in overcoming the challenges of the site’s restricted boundaries and limited onsite storage, due to the city centre location. The structural elements could be delivered to site and craned into position, with accurately scheduled loads reducing the site storage required. The selection of an offsite process allowed for fewer lorry journeys when compared to more traditional in-situ concrete construction techniques, which also reduced carbon and disruption to the wider site.
A key element of the architectural design for the Stephenson Building included leaving the structure and services exposed, aiming to inspire future engineering students by expressing engineering excellence throughout the building itself. To achieve this, both the glulam diagrid roof and CLT roof deck incorporated highly accurate factory-routed channels for easy installation of MEP services on site, which were been left deliberately exposed on the soffits.
Sustainability was central to the redevelopment of the Stephenson Building, with Newcastle University and NORR Architects working closely to consider the environmental impact of the design choices and materials used.
According to NORR Architects:
“The use of One-Click LCA software – a live tracker for measuring the embodied carbon proposed in the development – helped empower our clients to consider sustainable materials. Looking beyond just the material cost, it helped justify the right sustainable decisions at each of the approval tiers within the University hierarchy.” Retaining sections of the building structure also preserves the embodied carbon already in the building and further extendsed the lifespan of the materials which have already been in use for 70 years."
The use of timber plays an important role in the embodied carbon calculations - as trees grow they absorb and sequester carbon. Thus, the use of timber in place of more carbon - intensive materials such as concrete reduced the total carbon impact of the project. Primarily produced using Norway Spruce, with full PEFC chain of custody certification, the 418.4 m3 of CLT panels and 315.1 m3 of glulam beams incorporated into the Stephenson Building sequester 548.4 t of CO2e. Furthermore, due to the responsible management of European forests within the supply chain, all of the timber used on the project will have regrown in just 101 seconds.
Alongside the environmental credentials of the timber itself, the design and construction of the Stephenson Building also aimed to reduce operational carbon emissions. The roof design features an overhang to provide solar shading to prevent overheating, while the CLT includes precise overlap joints which help achieve ultra-low rates of air permeability. This in turn can help to minimise heating loads for the building, which has been fitted with a biomass-fuelled combined heat and power (CHP) plant to generate both zero carbon electricity and heating, while the timber also helps to mitigate extremes of temperature and humidity.
Professor Ian Postlethwaite, Head of Engineering at Newcastle University:
“The eye-catching building makes a statement about Engineering at Newcastle, representing substantial world-leading research, innovation and cutting-edge teaching. The redevelopment will help generate partnerships with industry and support us in addressing the climate emergency and critical skills shortages.”
The design concept and construction techniques employed in the redevelopment of the Stephenson Building reflects its purpose as a leading facility for engineering education. BKHS’ extensive expertise and experience with hybrid structures and their collaborative supply chain relationships helped ensure this ambitious redevelopment could be delivered successfully and to an exceptional standard.