Engineering Services for Buildings

 

Ickworth House, West Wing

 


This Grade 1 listed building had remained a shell since it was built over 200 years ago. The project transformed the building into a three storey conference and events venue, accommodating up to 220 delegates.

Facilities consist of a 340m2 events hall, restaurant, main kitchen, servery and food preparation area, learning rooms and staff toilet facilities.

To integrate with the existing historic structure, the upper floors were installed first. This “Top Down” process resulted in the main services runs being installed towards the end of the project. Services distribution within the floor construction had to fit between the restricted space of the concrete soffit installation and the new oak flooring.

The events hall lighting utilises architectural lighting track, with fluorescent modules hidden within the top section, to provide indirect up lighting to enhance the original roof.

Unusually, the lighting track is not suspended from the wooden roof structure, but laid onto the original wooden beams and secured by bespoke brackets. As these roof beams are not spaced at regular intervals, the track had to be custom built to allow it to be properly supported.

As a community of bats were in residence and roosted in the roof, a vertical shaft was installed to link the bat roost to a slot under a ground floor window to allow their entry and exit. The shaft also contained various mechanical and electrical services, so careful timing was required for the installation to avoid times when the bats were active.

 

Role:

Mechanical and Electrical Contractor

Client:

National Trust

Main Contractor:

Vinci Construction

M & E Consultant:

Buro Happold

Architect:

Hopkins

Value:

£1.0M

Download the PDF: 

pdf-ickworth-house