The Hard Rock brand is stretching its arms from Atlantic City to Japan. It’s main inspiration? Music. Most of their designs are based on rhythms and structures of sound by interpreting them into physical forms and materials. Designing for Hard Rock means adding the music inspiration through cafe’s to hotels
When Tottenham Hotspur was seeking a lighting supplier for the creation of its world class, 62,062 seater iconic new stadium, Zumtobel Lighting (a member of Zumtobel Group) took up the challenge, fielding a superb team and products that proved to be exactly the right match. Great consideration was given to
For many students, university marks the first time in their lives that they are truly independent. But with this newfound freedom comes a whole load of new responsibilities. Among these, ensuring that you budget appropriately for your student life is of paramount importance. The more you know about your finances
A new state of the art training centre will be built by McLaren Construction for Leicester City as part of a major deal between the two. “We are very excited to work on this prestigious project. It’s a wonderful opportunity to partner with Leicester City to create a facility that
Bournemouth Tourism has partnered with independent global creative agency Crowd to deliver a new website for Bournemouth Beach Lodges. The site promotes beachside accommodation on the south coast of England, in the style of the traditional British beach huts, but with modern conveniences for the tourists. The visual and verbal
Work has begun on the third phase of a multi-million pound business park in Leamington Spa, which will bring 180,000 sq ft of new industrial units to the town. Leading property developer Stoford Developments is building four units and has already signed up Liberty 920E, part of the prestigious Liberty
The new, long-awaited 62,000-seater Tottenham Hotspur’s Stadium is officially opening today as the team faces Crystal Palace in the Premier League. This opening comes after a host of delays and two successful testing games over the past couple of weeks. SCX, Sheffield- based engineering specialist, will be seeing its world-first dividing
GMI Construction Group, a fast-expanding building and construction services company has announced that it has started construction of a 103,000 sq ft distribution unit at St. Modwen Park Burton (formerly known as Burton Gateway). The new speculative unit, which is being built for expert developer and regeneration specialist, St. Modwen,
London’s St James’s district benefits from new office, retail and restaurant space with the completion of a multi-use development. 35,000 sq ft of office space was delivered over the first to sixth floors, with 11,000 sq ft of retail and restaurant space at ground and basement levels. The Marq project
The latest technology to deliver engine testing and research into sustainable power concepts has been brought to Coventry with the construction of a new automotive hub. Built by Willmott Dixon, the Centre for Advanced Low-Carbon Propulsion Systems (C-ALPS) houses some of the most advanced test facilities currently in the UK
The Hard Rock brand is stretching its arms from Atlantic City to Japan. It’s main inspiration? Music. Most of their designs are based on rhythms and structures of sound by interpreting them into physical forms and materials. Designing for Hard Rock means adding the music inspiration through cafe’s to hotels and casinos. Hard Rock International and Rivals Hard Rock International from Atlantic City is one of the fine examples of adding the sound structures of Hard Rock brand. Before the building passed to Hard Rock, it once belonged to Trump. The failing building used to be called Trump Taj Mahal. Hard Rock was able to change the whole structure of the building, giving an aspect of guitar chords. The commitment from Hard Rock was so big that they redone the property from minarets on the roof to the plumbing in the hotel rooms. Jim Allen, CEO of Hard Rock International mentioned that when people arrive at the property, they will notice that there are no ties that lead to the previous owner. Now, Hard Rock International is fitted out with traditional Hard Rock musical souvenirs and the venue is organising live entertainment almost every night. The casino is also making a presence with its slots and table games. Jim Allen also added that Hard Rock International is the second largest gaming zone from the U.S. He also added that the new Gov. Phil Murphy and the new Atlantic City Mayor Frank Gilliam were a pleasure to work with, as well as with the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority and the former Gov. Chris Christie. On the Boardwalk, Hard Rock’s rival is Ocean Resort, which opened around the same time like Hard Rock. However, Ocean Resorts doesn’t have the spectacular performance like the music-themed casino. In addition, Ocean Resort is another property that demonstrates how important it is to impressively design a property. Ocean Resort is a revamped building from the former Revel Casino Hotel. The main design aspect of Ocean Resort seems to be one of the seas, the venue is covered in full glass that reflects the blue sky. In addition, both megaresorts affects the viability of the Atlantic City area, although Hard Rock may be considered one of the strongest approvals in gaming. The company stays firmly as an entertainment firm. Thus, Hard Rock International had in its first year over 300 events, all of them achieving everyone’s taste. Jim Allen said that the venue had over 28 million, of social media impressions. The hotel was packed with entertaining events like Kelly Clarkson concert, country acts, rock ‘n roll acts, Sugar Factory, and of course, the world-famous Hard Rock Cafe. Even though the CEO of Hard Rock International praises the hotel, it is unlike to surpass the MGM Resorts International Borgata. Borgata is not only known because of MGM’s name. The casino was heavily involved in art exhibitions, like Pop-Up art gallery, Contemporary Glass Art and others. Today, the hotel has a music venue, which can be converted in Borgata Ballroom, a special event for diners, training or business presentation. The hotel also has a Festival Park, used during summer, a music box which can also be Borgata Theatre, designed for meetings and presentations. At Borgata Theatre, the comedian Lewis Black performed his ninth stand-up comedy in 2013. The remaining artistic event that the hotel continues is based on martial arts. The design of the hotel consists of a main tower, which is the third tallest building in Atlantic City, visible from many miles due to its facade of reflective gold glass. The architectural firms, Marnell Corrao Associates of Las Vegas, Philadelphia’s Bower Lewis and Thrower Architects (BLT) worked on the project. The main tower stands 431 ft. tall and contains up to almost 2000 guest rooms and suites. MGM Resorts International Borgata is twice as Hard Rock and Tropicana. Hard Rock is a newcomer and is sitting pretty on the charts, while the Ocean Resort has slipped into last place. Jim Allen explains that Hard Rock tries to position itself as an entertainment destination and that has certainly worked very well for them. Hard Rock Hollywood Together with the power of Hard Rock, Florida’s Seminole Tribe has been drastically redoing two of its Hard Rock properties in the Sunshine State. Hard Rock Hollywood is one of the properties that has a massive expansion. The property is already iconic with its 638 hotel rooms tower, which is in a shape of a guitar body. The Hard Rock locations are known on a global level, for their guitar element, whatever it’s a part of a facade or the design itself. The desired design theme is still going strong after 40 years. Hard Rock Hollywood is expanding the gambling capacity, with 3000 slot machines, 192 table games and a poker room with 46 seats. In addition, 30 new additional restaurants, bars, and lounges are added, together with a new entertainment venue, a full-service spa and a three pool aquacade. The top beam of the hotel is the signature of the Seminole tribe from Brighton, Immokalee, Big Cypress and Hollywood. The new convention space will also characterize the revamped casino. The dramatically refashioned look will debut in autumn 2019. Hard Rock Tampa Another project that doesn’t have to be overlooked is the Hard Rock Tampa. Hard Rock Tampa is a massive casino overhaul. It has 5000 slot machines and 200 table games. The tribe behind this casino pride themselves with the idea that Tampa is for economic investment and during and after its development, it will offer around 6000 jobs. In other terms, Hard Rock Tampa will have a 15-story tower added. The tower will handle 564 hotel rooms with private elevators for rock-star suites. Like at Hard Rock Hollywood, Tampa will also have three ultra-lavish pools, the area is the size of a football terrain which will be covered and will also feature a dedicated restaurant. The existing spa will be replaced by a more extravagante one, the restaurants will
When Tottenham Hotspur was seeking a lighting supplier for the creation of its world class, 62,062 seater iconic new stadium, Zumtobel Lighting (a member of Zumtobel Group) took up the challenge, fielding a superb team and products that proved to be exactly the right match. Great consideration was given to the needs of the stadium users when creating the lighting design, including the importance of both the vertical and horizontal illumination. The new 120,000 square metre stadium is not just for football – it has been designed to host National Football League (NFL) games, which meant meeting the requirements of a multi-purpose venue. As one of most intense and atmospheric places in the UK to watch football, the stadium boasts innovative premium and general admission spaces that include the longest bar in Europe, it’s very own micro-brewery, the `Tunnel Club` where fans can see the players preparing to go onto the field of play, a five storey atrium space, a skywalk and food outlets with menus created by Michelin-star chefs. Zumtobel came up with a design that was based on a comfortable and safe environment for players, employees and visitors to the stadium, providing the perfect illumination for the home changing room, players tunnel, hospitality areas, Media Café, Microbrewery, general admission concourses, Tottenham Experience retail space, NFL locker rooms and terrace safety lighting. The player’s wellbeing is of paramount importance. For the changing rooms, physio and relaxation spaces, considerable attention had to be given to circadian rhythms, catering for different times of the day when players use the facilities. Studies have confirmed the positive effects of using artificial lighting to support these natural circadian rhythms. These effects manifest themselves in improved concentration, better visibility and a general ‘uplift’ in how we feel. To achieve this, Zumtobel’s PANOS infinity has been installed, with a white-light range of 2700 K to 6500 K that offers the user a wealth of options to adjust the colour temperature to the respective application. SLOTLIGHT tunableWhite and RGBW LED Tape has also been utilised in this area. The players’ tunnel has been illuminated using Custom Active Light Wall, two huge stretch ceiling fittings that have been personalised in Zumtobel’s Dornbirn, Austria factory, in conjunction with SLOTLIGHT tuneableWhite. Elsewhere, 200 VIVO spotlights in a special Ocean Blue paint finish have been installed in the M Media Café to provide an ideal working environment for reporters. Black ONDARIA circular luminaires and VIVO spotlights illuminate the Tottenham Experience retail space, the largest football club retail space in Europe. Thanks to its distinct radius and soft contours, in addition to a subtle indirect component, ONDARIA almost seems to float in the air, making it particularly well-suited for prestigious areas. The luminaire allows for a fully flexible arrangement and blends perfectly into every room layout. VIVO LED spotlights from Zumtobel are a stand out solution due to their high colour rendering index and extremely uniform light distribution. Unique PiLED technology, pre-programmed colour points and premium lens systems pave the way for exclusive implementations. The all-important premium areas have been given a welcoming ambience with a wide variety of luminaires. Custom made CRAFT L LED, flicker-free high bay LED luminaires with a special colour temperature of 5700K, have been installed to provide the safety lighting for the terraces within the bowl and match the field of play lighting. CRAFT meets high requirements for colour rendering with values up to Ra > 90, whilst stroboscopic effects for rotating machines are also completely unknown to this luminaire, even in the dimmed state. Durable TRINOS IP65 continuous-row lighting system has been installed in the Microbrewery to combine the flexibility and functionality of a trunking system with the tough resistance of an IP65 luminaire, designed for environments that demand a higher degree of protection. Over 77,000 luminaires from the Zumtobel Group Lighting Brands, acdc, Thorn and Zumtobel have been installed throughout the stadium. These include acdc’s BLADE fixtures for the ‘halo’ and façade and FUSION in the seating bowl, Thorn’s STEALTH custom luminaire in the concourse circulation area, Zumtobel’s Black ONDARIA circular luminaires and VIVO spotlights in the Tottenham Experience retail space, PANOS infinity downlights and SLOTLIGHT tunableWhite and RGBW LED Tape in the changing rooms, physio and relaxation areas, Custom Active Light Wall and SLOTLIGHT tunableWhite in the players tunnel and VIVO spotlights in the M Media Cafe, custom made CRAFT L LED in the seating bowl and many other luminaires from the product portfolio of Zumtobel Group’s lighting brands are installed throughout the stadium. Zumtobel Group and Tottenham Hotspur, both leaders in their own fields, are working in partnership to ensure that the Tottenham Hotspur brand image is seen in the correct light, whilst saving energy and creating the best possible environment for staff and visitors alike. Alfred Felder, Zumtobel Group CEO, commented “We are proud to be partnering with Tottenham Hotspur, one of the world’s top football clubs, to provide lighting solutions for the new, iconic Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Translating the specifications and ideas of the architect and the light designer into tangible products was a major challenge but one we were able to meet thanks to our design expertise and product portfolio”. Matthew Collecott, Director of Operations, Tottenham Hotspur comments “We have sought to create a world-class stadium in every aspect and that includes sourcing an innovative solution to our lighting. This has been made possible through the Zumtobel Group and we have been extremely pleased with the results they have achieved as part of this iconic project.”
For many students, university marks the first time in their lives that they are truly independent. But with this newfound freedom comes a whole load of new responsibilities. Among these, ensuring that you budget appropriately for your student life is of paramount importance. The more you know about your finances beforehand, the easier it will be to work out an appropriate budget. It is therefore very helpful to know how much the essentials of your accommodation are going to cost. Here are some of the most important components of your student accommodation budget. Rent Unless you have some kind of private arrangement, rent is always going to account for the biggest accommodation-related expense. According to Save the Student, the average student rent is £406, with a further £47 being spent on bills. Of course, the amount you are willing to spend on rent, the better the accommodation you will be able to procure. Some students are able to get by with the absolute most basic and minimal accommodation, but for others this can be detrimental to their overall university experience. Upgrading If you are someone who requires more luxurious accommodation than the usual options, you should look to a specialist provider. For example, if you are looking for luxury student accommodation in Newcastle, check out Collegiate. They offer all-inclusive next-level student accommodation in convenient locations. One of their options, Plummer House, is located close to both Newcastle University and Northumbria University and boasts unique features such as a games room, a VIP bar and beautiful interior design throughout the property. This is the perfect option for the most discerning students. Food The amount you need to set aside to cover your food costs will depend on a number of factors, not least of all how much work you are willing to put into your meals. If you are willing to prepare your own meals from scratch, you will find that you can feed yourself for a lot less. If spending more on your accommodation is a priority for you, look for ways to keep your food bills down. Save The Student puts the average monthly food bill for students at £108, which works out at £27 every week. However, you can reduce this amount easily by cooking as much of your food from scratch as possible. It is worth investing in a student cookbook as these will be full of money-saving meal ideas. Other Factors to Consider While your choice of accommodation is obviously an important one in determining what your university experience is like, there are other important things to consider when establishing your budget. For example, you will want to ensure you have enough money left over for some rest and relaxation. Socialising is an important part of the university experience. Overall you will want to set aside at least £400 to cover the costs of your accommodation. However, prices can vary wildly from city to city and between different accommodation types. Make sure that you carefully research the city your university is in so you can get as good an idea as possible as to how much it will cost you to live there. Remember that student housing will be cheaper than the average rent price in the area.
A new state of the art training centre will be built by McLaren Construction for Leicester City as part of a major deal between the two. “We are very excited to work on this prestigious project. It’s a wonderful opportunity to partner with Leicester City to create a facility that will help to shape the next generation of top sportsmen and women – for the club and for the sport. We bring our considerable experience in sports and leisure facilities to the project, as well as our reputation for quality and timely delivery,” said Kevin Taylor, Chairman of McLaren Group. The training centre will host new facilities for the Premier League football team, including 11 full-size outdoor pitches, eight smaller pitches, five training grids and two goalkeeping areas. The indoor facilities include 35 bedrooms, a hydrotherapy pool, rehabilitation facilities and dining areas for the club’s academy and first team, as well as administration offices and a media centre. A full-size indoor artificial pitch will also be located next to the main building. Furtmermore, the development contains a sports turf academy which will be used to train the next generation of grounds-people, and a 499-seat mini-venue show pitch, so that the under-23 and under-18 teams can experience a match environment. Principal contractor McLaren will complete the project, which is scheduled for completion in mid 2020, on the grounds of the former Park Hill Golf and Fishing Centre at Charnwood, supporting biodiversity with the delivery of 17 new ponds and 38,000 new trees.
Bournemouth Tourism has partnered with independent global creative agency Crowd to deliver a new website for Bournemouth Beach Lodges. The site promotes beachside accommodation on the south coast of England, in the style of the traditional British beach huts, but with modern conveniences for the tourists. The visual and verbal identity The project followed the existing brand guidelines and used photography supplied by the client. The brand-new website highlights the benefits of staying in the luxury beach lodge accommodation with attractive images of the interior and the surrounding areas. A dedicated page was created to display the nearby attractions such as Corfe Castle, the New Forest and various water-sport activities. The visuals reflect what awaits visitors on their beach lodge break and position Bournemouth as a great holiday destination. The colour scheme invokes feelings of a coastal sunrise and the typography is reminiscent of the heyday of the British Seaside in the 1930s, but with a contemporary feel. Subtle animations were used on calls to action that represent the sea rushing up the beach to provide a visual reward for those about the click. “Creating an excellent mobile experience was always key to maximising bookings and search engine rankings. With a reliance on large inspirational images, we needed to ensure that the mobile site was fast and easy to use, whilst retaining the focus on photography which was essential to generating excitement in the visitor,” said Graham Dell, Projects Director at Crowd. The website was developed on WordPress as it allows the client to edit the content of the site. Crowd built a bespoke content editor that provides an easy means to edit existing pages and create new landing pages for paid or social marketing. It provides a good balance between inspirational photography and essential information for the tourists.
Work has begun on the third phase of a multi-million pound business park in Leamington Spa, which will bring 180,000 sq ft of new industrial units to the town. Leading property developer Stoford Developments is building four units and has already signed up Liberty 920E, part of the prestigious Liberty Vehicle Technologies, for a 50,000 sq ft unit at the park, which is located on Tachbrook Road. A further three units of 30,000 sq ft, 40,000 sq ft, and 60,000 sq ft, all with ancillary offices and suitable for advanced manufacturing and e-fulfilment and distribution uses (B1, B2 and B8 classes), will also be constructed. When it is fully operational, Liberty 920E’s state-of-the art, flagship 50,000 sq ft centre will become a global hub for its research and development and engineering expertise, housing house more than 100 technical professionals, including 40 new engineering posts. The company, which employs 5,000 people in the UK, is a Tier 1 supplier to major automotive manufacturers domestically and overseas. The centre, adjacent to its original plant, will also house Liberty’s Vehicle Technologies, 920Engineering (920E) and Shiftec businesses, which are internationally renowned for their advanced lightweight braking and control systems respectively. Contractor Benniman has been appointed to undertake the first tranche of phase three construction, which is due for completion in Q4 this year. Dan Gallagher, Joint Managing Director at Stoford Developments, which is developing the site jointly with leading asset management company BlackRock, said: “Starting on phase three of Spa Park is a key milestone in this significant development that could bring hundreds of jobs to the area. “We are pleased to have signed Liberty 920E for one of the larger units that we are delivering and we are also in talks with other prospective occupiers and hope to make further announcements soon. There is still huge demand for business units and warehouses of this size in the region, which has a long track record for advanced manufacturing and engineering industries.” Stoford is retaining a large portion of the site that will enable it to construct units ranging from 30,000 sq ft – 290,000 sq ft on a build-to-suit basis. Paul Tebbit at BlackRock said: “We are pleased to be on site in Leamington working in partnership with Stoford once more, following on from our recent project in Siskin Parkway West, Coventry, where we successfully built and let 310,000 sq ft in two buildings. Spa Park forms part of BlackRock’s strategy to build and own best in class, strategically located logistics assets within the BlackRock UK Property Fund, which now stands at nearly £3.5bn. Spa Park offers access to a strong skilled labour pool, good infrastructure and connections and importantly a significant power supply.” Anthony Blackwell, chief technical officer for Liberty Engineering, who is leading the development of the global technology centre, said: “This industry-leading new facility at Spa Park will play a pivotal role in our development of sophisticated components for the next generation of vehicles. “This site has nearly a century of heritage in automotive manufacturing and our new centre here will help us write an exciting new chapter in this success story.” Spa Park is ideally located, close to the A46 and junctions 14 and 15 of the M40. Leamington Spa train station is less than one mile away. Spa Park is already home to lingerie and swimwear brand Bravissimo, Detroit Electric and global medical company Smith + Nephew. For more details about Spa Park, visit www.spapark.co.uk Photo caption (l-r): Dan Gallagher, Joint Managing Director, Stoford Developments; Anthony Blackwell, Chief Technology Officer for Liberty Engineering; Steven Smith, Managing Director, Benniman.
The new, long-awaited 62,000-seater Tottenham Hotspur’s Stadium is officially opening today as the team faces Crystal Palace in the Premier League. This opening comes after a host of delays and two successful testing games over the past couple of weeks. SCX, Sheffield- based engineering specialist, will be seeing its world-first dividing retractable pitch on display at the match. The grass surface, which can be rolled back to reveal a bespoke NFL pitch below, is the result of the vision and expertise of SCX Special Projects, the bespoke engineering arm of the SCX group. The innovative system allows the venue to be used for music concerts and other events in addition to regular football matches and NFL games. “It has been a phenomenal success, equal to what we have achieved with the retractable roofs for Centre Court and No.1 Court for the All England Lawn Tennis Club at Wimbledon, and within a very tight timescale,” said SCX’s Project Director, Danny Pickard. “The Tottenham pitch went from being perceived as the highest risk part of the project – with all the moving parts, the turf joins and an engineering concept that had not been tried before – to something neither we nor the client had to worry about. It’s fantastic. Everything was completed on time despite the huge scale of the project, and communication has been the key. We have a really great client in Spurs,” Danny added. The retractable real grass surface splits into three pitch-long steel trays. When the trays slide together, the join is invisible and imperceptible to the players. The trays, weighing more than 3,000 tonnes each, can be rolled under the new South Stand to reveal the NFL artificial surface in a process taking about 25 minutes. The mechanical tests included the sideways movement of the side trays to meet the centre tray, the defining feature that makes the pitch a world first.
GMI Construction Group, a fast-expanding building and construction services company has announced that it has started construction of a 103,000 sq ft distribution unit at St. Modwen Park Burton (formerly known as Burton Gateway). The new speculative unit, which is being built for expert developer and regeneration specialist, St. Modwen, will include a 50m deep yard, 10 dock levellers (including 2 euro-docks) and grade A office space. Due to be completed this September, the unit further expands the industrial and logistics offering at the 1 million sq ft site. Once occupied, it could create in excess of 120 jobs in addition to the significant number of construction jobs created during the build. Work begins just a month after St. Modwen announced it had attracted two new tenants to the Park, with Supply Technologies taking a 25,446 sq ft unit and Keylite Roof Windows leasing a 40,730 sq ft unit, both of which were delivered as part of the second phase of development. Speaking about the announcement Martin Watson, Construction Director at GMI Construction, said: “We are delighted to have been awarded our second contract at St. Modwen Park Burton. Our commitment to deliver another quality product on time for St Modwen will be our ultimate focus moving forward.” Also commenting, Steven Smith, Senior Construction Manager at St. Modwen, said: “We are pleased to have instructed GMI Construction Group on this latest phase. GMI is a well-respected construction company and we have great confidence in the team’s ability to deliver this quality unit.” With Rob Richardson, Senior Development Manager at St. Modwen, going on to say “St. Modwen Park Burton has proven to be an incredibly popular site. This further investment is not only testament to our confidence in the Park, but in the wider industrial and logistics market in the Midlands.” Birmingham-based property agents Savills and Knight Frank are marketing the scheme on behalf of St. Modwen. Katie Aitchison, Associate Director at Savills, and Edward Kennerley, Associate at Knight Frank, said: “We are looking forward to unveiling the completed unit in September. The business park has attracted some excellent names and we’re confident that this additional unit will satisfy the demand for well-connected B2 and B8 space, attracting more great businesses and creating a significant number of jobs in the region.” St. Modwen Park Burton is one of the largest warehouse developments in the Midlands and is a key employment hub for East Staffordshire. The site already has more than 200,000 sq ft of space and is home to major names including Hellman Worldwide Logistics, who occupied the first unit in 2016. Strategically located adjacent to the A38, on the southern approach to Burton-upon-Trent, the site offers strong links to the M42 and A50. Nearby occupiers include Pirelli, Unilever, Boots, Holland & Barrett, Argos and Toyota.
London’s St James’s district benefits from new office, retail and restaurant space with the completion of a multi-use development. 35,000 sq ft of office space was delivered over the first to sixth floors, with 11,000 sq ft of retail and restaurant space at ground and basement levels. The Marq project has been completed by Skanska for its client The Crown Estate. “Handing this project over on time, within budget and to such a high standard is a fantastic achievement. Working together with all of our stakeholders has created a strong working ethic that has delivered our customer’s requirements and it’s a building that they can be proud of,” said Richard Kirkpatrick, Project Director. The development features three pieces of bespoke artwork by Jacqueline Poncelet, with two external elements – splay corner and gates – being complemented by an interior wall-based artwork. Moreover, the building is on target to achieve a BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ rating for the office space and a WELL Building Core and Shell Gold certification. On this project Skanska was also supported by Rolfe Judd (architects), Waterman Group (structural engineers) and Watkins Payne Partnership (services engineers). “This has been a complex project at a busy location with several constraints on the site. It has been an exciting project for us, involving creative engineering in close proximity to nearby buildings and busy streets. The structural works have gone very smoothly thanks to close collaboration between all parties. The project is a great credit to all involved,” commented Richard Whitehead, Board Director of Structures at Waterman.
The latest technology to deliver engine testing and research into sustainable power concepts has been brought to Coventry with the construction of a new automotive hub. Built by Willmott Dixon, the Centre for Advanced Low-Carbon Propulsion Systems (C-ALPS) houses some of the most advanced test facilities currently in the UK and is available to car makers, airplane manufacturers, small and medium-sized companies to accelerate the creation of new powertrain solutions for use across automotive, aerospace, marine and rail sectors. “It is a pleasure to be working with Coventry University and FEV to create this cutting-edge facility. Research into low carbon technologies is incredibly important and, as a carbon neutral business, it is something close to the heart of all of us at Willmott Dixon. It was a challenging build, but thanks to strong relationships and communication between all partners, C-ALPS has been a great success,” said Peter Owen, managing director of Willmott Dixon in the Midlands. “Similarly, the constrained location came with its challenges due to being surrounded by businesses, a church, a university and residential areas – it’s very different to most of other FEV sites around the world which are normally located miles away from other buildings. Because of this, our design partner Broadway Malyan designed its cladding to blend in with the environment and complement the site’s location,” Peter added. The hub will allow experts from across the world to conduct research into vehicle hybridisation, electrification, plus enhancement of conventional and alternative fuel-based powertrains to meet the requirements of future transportation and future cities. It is part of a long-term collaboration between Coventry University and FEV, the international leader in design and development of advanced gasoline, diesel and hybrid powertrains and vehicle systems. The development has created five testing cells, offices, a workshop, car parking and soft landscaping. It has created strong links into the engineering industry for Coventry University and in turn, will create fantastic opportunities for students and Coventry itself.
