B&K Structures - Jaguar Land Rover Advanced Product Creation Centre
Offsite Awards 2020 - Commercial Project of the Year winner
Project Name: Jaguar Land Rover Advanced Product Creation Centre
Company: B&K Structures
Sector: Commercial
Technology: Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) & Glulam
To create one of the foremost Advanced Product Creation Centres in the world, with the largest engineered timber roof in the UK, reflecting the design quality and company values associated with one of Britain's most iconic automotive businesses.
Jaguar Land Rover's sustainability and wellbeing strategy shaped the building philosophy for the new design and engineering centre, together with the desire to create a defining roof structure from innovative timber technology. Speed and ease of construction were the driving forces behind this project, without compromising the quality of design and materials.
This development is integral to Jaguar Land Rover's wider expansion programme at the Banbury Road site in Warwickshire. Facilities include new design and engineering studios, state-of-the-art offices, a restaurant and a multipurpose hall, amongst other amenities. A new internal thoroughfare connects all areas, creating a sense of community and maximising the potential for interaction.
Key Challenges
With a brief that demanded speed and ease of construction, traditional build methods would not have enabled a quick end-to-end process and would have generated high levels of waste, dust and noise.
By maximising offsite manufacturing methods, this challenge was easy to overcome – allowing B&K Structures to deliver on time, in a matter of weeks.
Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA) and Building Information Modelling (BIM) were crucial to the lean and advanced manufacturing processes involved. This disciplined and collaborative approach achieved early design detail co-ordination and three-dimensional design information. Panel geometry and specifications were detailed exactly through 3D modelling files, which passed through the teams involved in the specification, design, and detailing stages. Manufacturing and machining of the panels were factory produced to 100% accuracy, facilitating a perfect fit, maximising sustainability and minimising transport costs and onsite waste. BIM ensured project timescales were optimised and kept problems relating to non-compliance and dimensional inaccuracies or clashes to an absolute minimum for fast and reliable erection.
The output of the BIM design process, the IFC model, was directly imported into the fabrication software, eliminating the time-consuming translation of engineering information into cutting lists and assembly drawings. Designs were optimised and tested in a virtual, pre-production environment before reaching the full manufacturing process, reducing costly rework and errors onsite. This approach enabled the optimal configuration of offsite solutions by engaging with multi-discipline and multi-tier suppliers from the beginning of the design development process.
The Solution
Encompassing 1,512m³ of glulam beams and 2,674m³ of cross laminated timber panels (CLT) manufactured by Binderholz, the engineered timber roof makes a vast design statement covering an area of over 50,000m2 (GIA). The engineered timber roof was delivered through DfMA processes. Such a methodology has an affinity with one of the core activities at the heart of Jaguar Land Rover. The design and connection detailing were optimised and tested in a virtual and pre-production environment before reaching the full manufacturing process, reducing costly reworks and errors onsite.
The design and detailing were split into six phases over a period of five months. A significant design consideration was the development of the steel to timber connections to provide the engineered tolerances critical to the buildability and accuracy of the finished project. The build was sequenced over six phases during an eight-month build programme. The development and implementation of a strict moisture control procedure was critical to the installation. The procedure was developed alongside Laing O’Rourke and provided a robust and effective control of water/moisture during the construction phase of the build.
The hybrid industrial visual grade cross laminated timber and glulam structure was designed to deliver permanent quality and long-term energy efficiency, requiring little or no maintenance to meet the sustainability objectives.
The engineered timber industrial system was specified as it allows for rapid assembly and offers excellent airtightness through robust cross laminated timber panels. The solid wood structure was able to meet the natural look and feel that Jaguar Land Rover required together with the low thermal resistance and airtightness that the structure demanded to meet the challenging design brief.
The development represents the first major construction project at one of the company’s non-manufacturing sites in over a decade. The new facility will deliver transformational change in the company’s practices and working environment to help attract and retain the best staff. 3,400 designers, engineers, purchasing and support staff occupy the new building, which will take the overall site population up to almost 13,000 – the size of a small town.
Positive Outcomes
The expansion represents the first major construction project at one of the company’s non-manufacturing sites in more than a decade. The new facility will deliver transformational change in the company’s practices and working environment to help attract and retain the best staff. 3,400 designers, engineers, purchasing and support staff occupy the new building, which will take the overall site population up to almost 13,000 – the size of a small town.
Timber Design
The timber roof will only need minimal maintenance during the building’s lifetime as the solid timber sections prevent dust getting trapped as it would with steel sections. The timber structure is designed for 90 minutes of fire resistance. Protection of the galvanised steel connections was achieved by recessing within the body of the glulam and CLT. As most of the operations took place offsite, the project achieved a RIDDOR free installation.
The roof’s fabric is finely tuned to optimise performance. Adopting a hybrid approach, the structure is designed to be as lean and efficient as possible. Maximising performance in this way has resulted in a roof with the lowest possible amount of embodied carbon. Largely, this was achieved by maximising the U-values and airtightness in order to reduce the energy required across the lifespan of the building.
The project represented the largest CLT roof deck constructed by B&K Structures. The design of the steel to glulam connections were a primary factor in the accuracy of the frame. The roof was constructed over an eight-month period with no reported H&S incidents, which is not only testimony to the final design solution, but also to the H&S culture that exists within the business and a significant contribution to our 17 consecutive ROSPA gold award.
CLT can play a major role in creating comfortable internal environments that genuinely ‘feel good’. CLT was ideal for this project because of its airtightness and carbon sequestration benefits. Left exposed, it creates a natural, inviting and calming environment with enhanced acoustic properties that dampen sound, to generate pleasant and peaceful workspaces. Through the application of natural wood, visitors are given an insight into JRL’s culture and sustainable beliefs. The design and the extensive use of engineered timber provides an aesthetically appealing environment.
