NCS were invited to be part of the project team at an early stage to enable buildability and value engineering savings to be identified to meet the client’s budget. NCS also took on design responsibility for piling and above ground elements including M+E for the project. The building provides the client with a manufacturing facility of some 35,000ft2. At 80 metres in length and 16 metres overall height, the building incorporates 2No x 50 tonne and 2No x 25 tonne overhead cranes running at different levels along the full length of the facility. This offers greater flexibility and significant lifting capacity as the building is designed to allow cranes to carry out tandem lifts. Phase 1 and Phase 2 were both delivered on time, within budget and with no safety incidents which is a credit to the whole team and the collaborative working approach that was entered into from day one of the project.

The works were constructed within a sensitive site with several other ‘live’ firing ranges being used throughout the construction. Health and Safety was therefore key to the successful delivery of the project. All works were constructed using NCS directly employed workforce, and completed incident free.

The project comprised the following elements :

• Demolition of existing steelwork structure as Firing Butt 1
• Remove roof and part walls of existing reinforced concrete Firing Butt 2
• Break out rock and install drainage system to control natural spring uncovered during excavation
• Reconstruct Firing Butt 1 in reinforced concrete 21m length x 7m width x 7m height
• Reconstruct Firing Butt 2 in reinforced concrete 27m length x 7m width x 7m height; new walls and roof
• Base, walls and roof were all 700mm thickness heavily reinforced with a 100mm armoured plate bolted to them for withstanding the blast from the missile testing

The construction of the walls and roof involved extensive category 3 Temporary Works Design which was led by NCS in-house Temporary Works Co-ordinator

The Project was shortlisted for the 2013 Robert Stephenson Awards held by the Institution of Civil Engineers, category Projects less than £4million.

Works to the precast concrete frame and laminate roof beams were completed using German and Austrian contractors. These were managed by NCS as Principal Contractor with no compromise on safety or quality.

All Civils works are constructed using NCS directly employed workforce allowing for greater control of Programme and Quality to meet Client expectations. The building was also designed to incorporate the existing district heating system which was extended from adjacent buildings on site.