Project Lifesaver - LIVES
Lincolnshire Showground, LN2 2NA- Sectors
- Education, Healthcare, Commercial
- Status
- Completed
- Client
- LIVES
- Services
- Civil, Structural & Flood Risk Assessment
- Dates
- 2022-2023
- Project Value
- £10m
- Delivery Partners
- Polkey Collins Associates
- BEC
- Influence
- Focus
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 services for their pioneering head office and training facility.
The vision was for a centre to provide training to the charity's volunteers, but also to anyone interested in learning lifesaving skills. From local school children who can learn basic CPR to Healthcare professionals across the country who wish to expand their skills in trauma care.
The training centre has the capacity to host real-life scenarios, including road traffic collisions, accidents within a home setting and within a truly immersive suite where weather, noise and lighting conditions can be controlled. The benefit of having all levels and types of training / simulation environment means that learner’s experiences can be built on incrementally allowing them to achieve, this works for all levels of learner from a first aider up to a prehospital critical care team.
The building also provides an operational base for up to 48 volunteer Emergency Responders and the many healthcare professionals who work in the community.
Architectural Visuals by Polkey Collins
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.
RIBA 3: Structural General Arrangement Drawings
Sustainable Drainage Solutions
Owing to the rural site location, the closest public sewer was located some 500m north of the site. Initially the local planning authority and Environment Agency requested that foul water be discharged to this location.
Dice was able to negotiate a more cost effective, sustainable solution. Surface water is attenuated on site via a network of permeable subbases and swales, with discharge via soakaways located within weathered bedrock strata. To mitigate 500m of pipework and the requirement to pump to the public sewer, a package treatment plant was carefully selected and implemented upstream of a foul water soakaway located in the northwest corner of the site.