HS2 Gallery

An integrated approach
Individual Report
BA [HONS] ARCHITECTURE Level 5
ARC5014 Technical Integration
Module leaders: David Sharpe, Jim Sloan
Author: Tatiana Pachina

Client: the High Speed Two (HS2) Limited

Architects: Tatiana Pachina, Rasna Mall
Engineer: Olivia Emery
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Contents
Introduction .............................................................. 3
The design task .......................................................... 3
Site analysis ............................................................... 4
Design Proposal ......................................................... 5
Architectural Design, building layout ....................... 6
Structural Design ...................................................... 7
Environmental Design .............................................. 8
Construction strategy ................................................ 9
End of life options ................................................... 10
Materials ..................................................................10
Elemental cost plan ................................................. 11
Fire safety................................................................ 14
Access/Inclusion strategy ........................................ 15
Buildability, Maintainability and Usability (BMU) ... 16
Conclusion ............................................................... 17
References .............................................................. 18

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Introduction.
This report will introduce the proposal for High Speed Two (HS2 Limited)
Gallery, developed by a group of architects together with engineers. In
this report, I will summarise different aspects of the design process of the
gallery.
First, I will look at the site analysis and the design proposals including
architectural design, structural design and environmental design. In
addition, I will include information about the materials used, possible
options of the construction strategy and end of life options.
Secondly, I will define the elemental cost plan, which will show an
estimate of the budget for our proposal.
Thirdly, I will outline the fire safety strategy and the access/inclusion
strategy.

Figure 1- The site. Existing buildings

After that, I will discuss buildability, maintainability and usability of our

proposed HS2 Gallery. In the end of the report, I will make the conclusion
and discuss possible developments.

The design task.

The brief states to design the temporary gallery space to display the
proposals for the HS2 station at Curzon Street in Birmingham. The gallery
accommodation must be on a single level and sit above the roofs of the
existing buildings at numbers 27 30 Park Street. The building shell offer
users a unique view of the HS2 construction site and act as prominent
landmark. The expected lifespan of the gallery is 10-15 years. The gallery
space should allow for a maximum occupancy of 100 people.
Figure 2 Red- the site boundary

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Site Analysis.

are not used as much. The given site was very small, therefore, we
thought that we would need to use the space on those roads. We
considered that the best views that we can get from the gallery are the
views towards the HS2 site (towards North) and possibly the South and
the East directions towards the City center. The site situates in, primarily,
an industrial area with lots of warehouses and rundown buildings, which
seems to be forgotten. Against the background of the redbrick
inconspicuous buildings, the shiny Bullring Shopping center stands out
and acts as the landmark. The observation of the site and analysis of the
maps gave us an idea for our design concept.

Our gallery would need to sit above two existing buildings on a site. We
conducted our site analysis, as the first step of our design process, looking
at wind direction, sun path, noise, views, access routes, surrounded
buildings, existing landmarks around the site and ground conditions. The
wind is blowing primarily from the South and the South-East directions.
With the need of the consideration the construction strategy for our
proposal in mind, we looked at the traffic around the site. We saw that
the Park Street is quite busy, while Shaws passage and Bordesley Street

Figure 8 - Traffic

Figure 3 - Site analysis diagram

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Design proposal.
We noticed that the New Street station and the Moor
Street station are quite close to the site. In addition, we
knew that due to the nature of the site and the task,
our gallery was needed to be raised above the existing
buildings and to be quite long, considering that the
supports were to be placed only at the edges of the site.
We came out with the idea of the train travelling from
one station to another towards the New Curzon Street
station high above the all buildings.

Figure 4 - Sketches

Figure 5 Final idea

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Architectural Design. Building layout.

The idea of the train complies with the requirement from the brief that
the gallery should act as a landmark. On the north side, the structure has
a big structural window through which visitors can view the HS2 site and
the city. The layout of the plans should make it easy to move around the
gallery for the visitors. When going inside the building you are entering
the lobby with the information desk from where you can then take the
stairs or the lift straight up to the gallery floor. We thought that it would
be better to place all the needed rooms and spaces on one floor, so the
visitors and stuff dont need to go up and down the floors to get where
they need. When arriving on the top floor there are the reception desk,
the office and the viewing space where people can see the construction
site. There are toilets for both female and male visitors along
with the disabled toilet. In the case of a fire, there is the
main staircase at the north end and the escape staircase at
the south. Overall, we thoroughly considered the use of the
building, and with the constraints of the site strived to
achieve the most effective layout possible.

Figure 7 North elevation

Figure 8 South elevation

Figure 6 East Elevation

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Structural Design.
We used steel I-beams and columns to form the frame of the building,
which are relatively lightweight in comparison to other options such as
concrete, as well as very strong in order to support the loading of the
building. These beams and columns make use of bolted connections to fix
the frame into place; therefore, these materials will be reusable after the
structure is taken down.

With non-displacement pile foundations such as these, soil is removed

and the resulting hole is filled with concrete, or a precast concrete pile is
installed and grouted in. This method of construction gives a good
frictional resistance, which should perform well under the loads placed
on the foundations by the building.

We used pile foundations in our design in order to transfer the loads of

the structure deeper into the soil. This will aid with anchoring the
structure against uplift forces and resisting lateral forces placed on the
structure by wind loads. Specifically, we used bored cast-in-place piles;
which can be around 600mm in diameter and can be constructed using a
tripod rig. This will help to minimise the vibrations caused when installing
the foundations, as the piles are not hammered into the ground as other
pile foundations typically are. Reducing the vibrations caused during the
construction phase is vital due to a nearby retaining wall close the site,
and existing shallow foundations nearby belonging to the buildings
currently on site.

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Environmental Design.
The building is facing north and the prevailing SW wind
runs along its length giving the advantage in terms of
Ventilation Strategy. Fresh air is drawing into the space
at the low level through the vents and the stale air rises
to the top of the building and draws out through the
ductwork.
The materials used for the design are prefabricated.
Tinted glass allows a controlled amount of light to enter
the gallery. Externally mostly steel cladding was used to
cover the structure and give a modern feel to the
building. Timber flooring was used on a steel deck in the
building as it is a relatively lightweight material, and it is
strong for its weight and suitable for the gallery internal
visualisations.

Figure 9 Lighting
Stale air

We wanted to get in as much light as possible without

disturbing the structure and without making the building
look too sheer. We have installed some few skylights
because the windows in the structure is small which
would not be able to capture much light. By installing
skylights, we do not have to use much electricity.

Wind direction

Cold air

Figure 10 Ventilation

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Construction strategy.
The building we have designed is constructing in a number of
phases:
Firstly, the foundations are installing by casting the pile
foundations into the holes in the ground.
Next, the columns are installing by crane onto the
foundation pads, and the bracing are be fixed into place
along the columns using bolted connections.
Once the columns are in place, the main truss member can
be added to the structure, along with the secondary beams
that give support to the main members.
The lift shaft and stairwell are installing close to this stage,
providing access to the building once complete.
After the frame of the building is complete, the steel
cladding is to be fixed onto the structure, along with the
glass that fits into the cladding, all of which will be lifted
onto the structure using a light crane.
Next, the internal partition wall and main internal features
such as the lift put into place to begin the transition of the
internal areas of the building.
Finally, the internal services and fittings such as heating,
lighting, plumbing, and furniture are fitting into the
building in order to finish the construction of the structure.

The building will be surveyed before and after crucial stages of

the construction, such as after the installation of the
foundations and before the cladding is fixed to the frame of the
structure, in order to ensure that the construction work being
completed matches the design drawings and that the structure
is safe for use.
Figure 11 Construction phases
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The materials will be of standard sizes and should be lightweight, so no

authorities should have to be contacted in order to transport these
materials to site, although a large vehicle will have to be used due to the
length of some of the beams (12m max). Once the materials arrive on
site, there will be little to no storage space so beams and columns
especially will have to be ordered to use, no materials should be
delivered to site without being installed straight away. As the materials
used will be prefabricated, no further construction will be needed on site
before work can begin. A crane will be used to lift the materials into
place. Even though cars do not use the Shaws passage and the Bordesley
Street as much as the Park Street road, it is most likely that the Park
Street road will be needed in order to provide more space. Therefore, the
closure of either one lane of road or a whole road will be required. It is
preferable that a large portion of the work takes place overnight or on
the weekends in order to limit the disruption caused to the neighbouring
areas by the road closures.

End of life options.

In our design we have used a lot of steel, since this is widely known to be
reusable often indefinitely without any downgrading of the quality of the
material from one use to the next. We will use a standardised size of steel
I beams and columns which will allow these prefabricated materials to
be reused and recycled after the end of the life of this structure. The
beams will be connected with bolts, which will allow the frame to be
taken apart without destroying the material. We found that only 6% of
steel cladding enters landfill sites after use, therefore we decided this
would also suit the temporary status of the structure we are designing.
The cladding and the beams can be removed with the use of a crane,
which should not disrupt the existing permanent structures that underlie
our structure on the site.
Our structure is designed to be taken apart piece-by-piece in a
deconstruction method, rather than demolished, in order to preserve
useful materials and prevent any disruption or damage to nearby
permanent structures.

Materials.

The gallery will be a temporary fixture that will stand only for 10-15 years. Also, it is important to consider the limitations placed upon the
materials that can be selected due to the transportation and installation, especially with materials over a certain weight, height, or depth. With
this in mind, we have chosen to use prefabricated materials in our structure in order to shorten the length of the construction time required. Prefabricated materials will also be easier to reuse at the end of the use of the structure when it is disassembled.
In order to allow natural light into the building, we have chosen to incorporate glass into our design. Tinted windows along the sides of the
building and on the north side will allow a controlled amount of light to enter the gallery, while providing good views for the visitors, to view the
HS2 site and the City center without glaring light. On the north side of the building, which will face the HS2 site, we will use curved glass on our
design, which will allow for a large viewing window. This should allow a large amount of light into the gallery and create a focus point in the
structure, forcing people to emphasise the view over the HS2 site.
To give a modern feel to the building and make the design more of a landmark, which would match similar landmarks in the area, such as The
Bullring shopping centre, externally we will use mostly steel cladding to cover the structure. Steel cladding is lightweight and can span a good
distance between the beams, which makes it useful for this structure. For flooring, we will be using timber on a steel deck in the building as again,
it is a relatively lightweight material, and it is strong for its weight and suitable for the gallery interior of the structure.
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Elemental cost plan.

The first method of estimating the cost of the building is using SPONS
Architects and Builders price book, Budget estimate (/m2 area method).
According to this, Exhibition centres cost between 1275 1600 per
square meter1. In our case, the total floor area or the gross internal floor
area (GIFA) is 440 m2 where ground floor=80m2, first floor= 360 m2 (see
the diagrams below). Therefore, the price of the building would be
between 561000 and 704000. The average is
(561000+704000)/2=632500

SPONS Architects and Builders Price book 2014, page 75

SPONS Architects and Builders Price book 2014, page 76

The national standard art gallery costs between 1925 and 2400 per
square meter. For our gallery the price would be between 847000 and
1056000. The average is (847000+1056000)/2= 951500. The
independent commercial art gallery costs between 1075 and 1350 per
square meter2. For our gallery the price would be between 473000 and
594000. The average is (473000+594000)/2= 533500

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Another way of estimating the cost is preparing a cost plan (elemental

method)3. Considering that the GIFA is 440 m2 we have:

Spons Architects and Builders Price Book (online version) 2014 building cost models pages 79 -155 approximate estimating rates pages 161-204

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From the two methods, the elemental cost plan provides a more detailed
analysis into the individual components of the building, therefore a more
accurate estimate. The cost in case of the HS2 gallery depends on many
aspects such as the design, site constrains, ground conditions etc.
Therefore, there could be a fluctuation between the two price estimates.
It may cost more than the average exhibition centre according to SPONS
Architects and Builders Price book.
The average cost of the gallery, taking the average numbers from the first
method and the second method is:
(632500+533500+951500+779808.91)/4=724327.2275

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The fire safety.

The galley floor of our gallery has two fire escapes one by
the main staircase in the north side of the building and
one by an external staircase on the south side of the
building. This applies with Approved Document B1
Section 3: "Design for horizontal escape in buildings other
than dwellings that for the commercial buildings and
offices the maximum travel distance when there is more
than one escape route must be no more than 45 meters.
As it can be seen on diagram below, the travel distance is
less than 45m.
Therefore, our building complies with building
regulations4.

Source: Approved Document B - Fire Safety: Volume 2 - Buildings other than dwellings. Section 3: Design for the horizontal escapes buildings other than flats p.33-34

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Figure 12 horizontal escape distances

Access/Inclusion strategy.

visitors can gather information about the building or read the signs or
notice boards, this would is particularly helpful for visitors with hearing
and speaking disabilities. There would also need to be signs indicating the
location of the lift. The stairs would have the handrails and stair treads for
safety. Considering the height of the climb to the gallery the majority of
people would use the lift, but the stairs are necessarily for safe
evacuation in case of fire. The gallery is designed for a maximum of 100
people and the layout of the gallery is made so there is plenty of
maneuverable space.

Access to the building:

The site is on a slope and access from the town requires a sloped
pavement. That is not very convenient to the accessibility, though the
pavement is 1.5 meters wide so would still be accessible to all members
of the public including wheelchair users. The cars can move only one way
(blue arrows on the diagram) and the best option would be to drive
towards the Bordesley street and drop off there. There are two
pedestrian crossings with the traffic lights on both roads made for the
visitors safety.

The gallary should fully comply with the Building regulations 2010 PART
M on access to and use of the building.

Access into the building:

The main doors into the building are wide

automatic sliding doors to allow people to
enter and exit simultaneously without
collision. The reason we chose sliding
doors is to allow the building to be
accessible for all people including those
with disabilities, amputations and wheel
chair users. Also, those doors allow
carrying large objects, for example, models
for exhibition. The entry into the building is
entirely flat and foot matts would be the
same level with the floor finish preventing
any trips or slips.

Figure 13 Access to the building. Blue arrows - traffic,

red lines pedestrian roots

Access inside the building:

Once inside, you enter directly into the
entrance lobby area, which is a fairly large
open space. There is convenient access to
the information desk on the left, from here
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Buildability, Maintainability and Usability (BMU).

During the construction, the maintenance and the
use of the building there are potential hazards. On
the table there are some methods in which these
ricks can be reduced. The role of architects is firstly
to check that the client is aware of their duties, to
eliminate hazards and reduce risks during the
design and then to provide information about
remaining risks. The Architect should also check the
CDM co-ordinator has been appointed and provide
any information needed for the health and safety
file. In most cases the Architect is involved in the
project from the initial stages through to the
completion of the building, therefore needs to
eliminate hazards and reduce risks throughout the
design. It is not however their role to specify
construction methods unless the design requires a
specific construction or erection sequence.
In the case of our HS2 Gallery, the construction
sequence is fairly straight forward, however due to
the fact it has to stretch over two existing buildings
which need to be accessed throughout the process
makes the construction more complex and
hazardous.

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Conclusion
In conclusion, this report summarises the design process from the site
analysis to the design proposals including architectural design, structural
design and environmental design. I have provided information about the
materials used, possible options of the construction strategy and end of
life options. The estimated costs, fire safety strategy and the BMU of the
building were outlined. Furthermore, accessibility and BMU strategies
were shown. I believe our building complies with modern building
regulations.

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References:
SPONS Architects and Builders Price book 2014, page 75
SPONS Architects and Builders Price book 2014, page 76
Spons Architects and Builders Price Book (online version) 2014
building cost models pages 79 -155 approximate estimating rates
pages 161-204
Approved Document B - Fire Safety: Volume 2 - Buildings other than
dwellings. Section 3: Design for the horizontal escapes buildings
other than flats p.33-34
The Building regulations 2010 PART M on access to and use of the
building.
Code of practice for the design of buildings incorporating safe work
at Height, BSI Standards Publication
Managing health and safety in construction, Construction (Design
and Management) Regulations 2007 Approved Code of Practice, HSE

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