News

V&A Dundee Highly Commended at Concrete Society Awards

One of our most iconic projects, V&A Museum of Design Dundee, has been highly commended at the Concrete Society’s Awards for Excellence in Concrete, at this year’s ceremony held at the Dorchester Hotel in Park Lane, London.

The awards, which took place earlier this month, recognise outstanding achievement in engineering works using concrete and are highly coveted among industry professionals. V&A Dundee is perhaps the most unique of concrete structures celebrated at the ceremony, with the concrete façade resembling a ship overhanging the River Tay. The specialisation of the project required the design of bespoke concrete mixes, adaptation to the complex geometry of the building and efficient construction management. Our role was to design a temporary works solution to support the building, and 2,240m³ of concrete, in its temporary state until the roof and upper levels of the building were installed, a process which lasted around 18 months. Judges commented:

“The structure itself is a ‘piece of art’ and the designer’s intent was for it to resemble a Scottish cliff face in its final external appearance and also as a ship by the bank of the river. The expectation of the material from both a structural integrity and external finish was very high and the contractor had to constantly redesign mixes and placing practicalities as the structure progressed. The whole building then had to support the heavy precast element hung on all surfaces of the finished structure. The formwork had to stay in place till the roof was on to both support the roof and the unsupported angles and overhanging curves of the building so the final finish was not seen until after this was removed.”

We are delighted our work on the project has been recognised as playing a crucial part in the construction of this iconic building, and congratulate specialist concrete subcontractors Careys Plc and all others involved in the project on this recognition. You can read more about the project and the Concrete Society Awards here.

For more information about our temporary works services, contact us on 01563 594621, at enquiry@alanwhitedesign.com, or take a look at some of our temporary works projects here.