Balfour Beatty Engineering Services (BBES) has completed the sustainable mechanical and electrical (M&E) installation as part of phase II of a £15 million redevelopment of the Aberdeen headquarters of energy services company, Intertek.
Intertek, a provider of quality and safety services, has signed a 20-year lease on an existing office building and is investing more than £4.5m in creating new laboratories along with research and development, testing and training facilities. The 3,800 m2 North Point Building at the Aberdeen Energy and Innovation Park will be home to 160 company employees.
BBES completed the comprehensive M&E installation, for main contractor Robertson Construction Group which included installation of laboratory gases, fume cupboards, ventilation, heating, BMS controls, air conditioning, lighting, power and security systems.
Working with engineering consultancy Wallace Whittle, BBES and Robertson Construction Group were faced with the challenge of integrating the M&E services into tight ceiling spaces within the existing structure. Extensive 3D modelling tests and coordination allowed the various teams to make an early assessment of construction issues on the highly serviced building project. This led to the creation of two service corridors on a mezzanine level, located adjacent to the new laboratories.
Intertek required all aspects of the project to afford low environmental impact and low energy when in use. With this in mind, BBES installed a series of sustainable solutions including energy monitoring, low energy lighting controls and led lighting. Energy monitoring allows Intertek to see its usage of gas, water and electricity helping to minimise its consumption and therefore lower the overall life costs of the building.
To further reduce environmental impact and provide a more efficient and safer way of delivering the scheme, BBES utilised its Modular Systems + facility, one of the largest offsite fabrication facilities in the UK, for the creation of the modular plant rooms and containment as well as laboratory bench services.
Offsite assembly offers many desirable qualities. As well as helping to reduce hours on site, factory controlled assembly offers a much safer approach to construction. It also helps to significantly reduce waste whilst maximising quality control. Together, this approach enables BBES to offer projects, such as Intertek, a more sustainable approach to building services delivery.
Now complete, the project was successfully handed over to Interkek on time and demonstrates BBES’ abilities to complete the most challenging M&E projects to the very highest standard.
