LIVES, Project Lifesaver

Sectors: Education, Healthcare, Commercial
Status: Completed
Services: Civil, Structural, Flood Risk
Client: LIVES, Polkey Collins
Project Value: £10m

A new £10m head office and training centre for first responder charity, LIVES. Located over a 3-acre site on the Lincolnshire Showground, the new development is a bespoke education centre providing a centre of excellence for training in pre-hospital emergency medicine.

Dice was appointed by LIVES to provide Civil, Structural, and Flood Risk consultancy for their new headquarters and training centre.

The facility was designed to train LIVES volunteers and anyone interested in lifesaving skills—from school children learning CPR to healthcare professionals advancing trauma care expertise.

It includes realistic training scenarios like road traffic and home-based incidents, plus an immersive suite where weather, noise, and lighting can be controlled. These varied environments allow learners to progress from basic first aid to advanced pre-hospital care.

The building also serves as an operational base for up to 48 volunteer Emergency Responders and healthcare professionals in the community.

Architectural Visuals by Polkey Collins

Design Challenges

Sustainable Drainage Solutions:
Due to the rural location and lack of public sewers in th site vicinity, permeable paving, swales and soakaways provide a truly sustainable surface water drainage solution, whilst foul water is treated on site with discharge also to soakaway.

Structural Solutions:
The team was challenged to provide an efficient, cost effect structural design, which was of particular importance given that the project was to be funded by charitable donations. A structural steel frame was selected due to an ability to provide efficient spans of up to 25m above training halls and studios, enabling flexible, multi-purpose spaces.

As with all Dice projects, we delivered our designs to BIM Level 2, in accordance with BS EN 1960, utilising Tekla Structural Designer and REVIT to produce efficient designs.

Shallow bedrock was encountered on site, allowing a simple and cost effective foundation solution to be adopted, comprising mass concrete pad foundations and ground bearing slabs. We were tasked with completing value engineering studies (VE), and considered a variety of structural solutions during RIBA 2 to ensure value for money. Solutions considered included a structural steel frame, Concrete frame and hybrid steel and timber frame.