Salford University, Autonomous Vehicle Facility
Salford University tend to use frameworks for their construction contracts and as far as we are aware, they are not fixed to any in particular. We are aware of them using CiF and Pagabo. We were employed for this project by Faithful and Gould, under their Pagabo framework, as the client wanted to use a team that he had previously worked with for similar types of projects. The University had invested in an Autonomous vehicle and had started advertising for students for their course. They were erecting a temporary building, until a permanent home for the facility could be found. The University were working with a European company that tested high performance vehicles, and the new autonomous vehicle facility was to be paired with the new testing facility. The client had identified a site, and the team was commissioned to undertake a detailed feasibility study to allow a business case to be presented to the University. This would allow a sign off for the facility to proceed.
Our works included the initial works to RIBA stage 2/3, to allow the QA to put together a robust cost plan that could be included within the business case. The challenge for us was to identify the position of the existing, below ground services that skirted the site. As part of the initial concept design we identified that the building would need to be constructed further into the site than originally expected. This was to avoid diverting the existing services which included HV and fibre cabling. In addition, the new access road to the site was required to be built over these services, in order to maintain them in their current position.
As the clients requirements developed during this stage, it became clear that the site identified was too small to accommodate the associated parking, access roads and turning circles required for the vehicle movements in and out of the building. The University entered into discussions with their neighbours to purchase more land for the facility, but with the overall cost plan at the top end of the requirements of the clients business plan the project stalled.
