Oxford: ISG wins contract for new laboratory scheme

ISG has been awarded a contract to refurbish and extend the University of Oxford’s Tinbergen Building by modernising and upgrading existing facilities, and creating new laboratories for chemistry teaching.

Designed by Sir Leslie Martin and named after Nikolaas Tinbergen, joint winner of the 1973 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, the building is currently home to the University’s department of experimental psychology and department of zoology. Commencing on site in early summer, ISG will carry out a phased refurbishment of the existing four-storey building which encompasses some 600,000 sq ft. The contractor will also build and fit out a new three-storey structure to create a suite of highly-specified undergraduate laboratories for the department of chemistry, sympathetically designed to reflect the building’s architectural ethos.

The phased refurbishment and upgrade of the existing accommodation will include teaching, research and write up areas. ISG will deploy silent sheet-piling installation methods to enable the basement level to be excavated for the new build element.

The new chemistry teaching laboratories will provide undergraduates with world-class practical laboratory facilities, with ISG installing 60 fume cupboards – each with separate extract outlets, medical-gas supplies and robust safety systems.

The University of Oxford’s focus on environmental sustainability has resulted in demanding targets of operational performance for both the Tinbergen Building’s new building and the refurbishment. ISG is targeting a BREEAM ‘excellent’ rating.  Sustainable measures will include the installation of external solar shading, an extensive roof-mounted photovoltaic panel array, advanced heat-recovery system and connection into the university’s combined heat and power (CHP) district heating system.

Paul Sharp, divisional director of ISG’s engineering services business, commented: “Schemes like the Tinbergen Building require a contractor experienced in technically demanding environments, and capable of offering an end-to-end solution with a highly engineered response to complex challenges, such as vibration restrictions, services continuity and safe extract of gases.”