[ Project focus: St George’s Park ]
not only for our client but for England as a whole, and we were very proud to have been involved with it.’ The development also required the construction
of a roof over an existing artificial sports pitch and the building of a community changing facility. Nothing was left to chance, and such was the concern about the local environment that a fence was wrapped around the site to prevent protected newts from straying under JCBs.
Spark of life In keeping with the rest of St George’s Park, a high performance M&E infrastructure was required, and ECA registered member and B&K Group subsidiary Derry Building Services was appointed to handle this aspect of the project, worth in excess of £12m. Derry specialises in all aspects of M&E design
and contracting, and the company’s director, Steve Burley, explains: ‘Operating from our offices in Newark, Nottinghamshire, we have been involved in a wide variety of projects for companies such as O2, Rolls Royce and AstraZeneca. We’ve also recently completed work on the new Warner Bros studio in Leavesden, so we are used to working on jobs of this size and scale.’ Even though Derry is part of the B&K Group, it still
had to go through a competitive tender. Its design manager, Geoff Caborn, played an instrumental role in this process, and comments: ‘We had to demonstrate best value without any compromise in the quality and efficiency of the materials used. We provided a great deal of return information about how we could achieve the brief within the required timescales, and designed a number of organograms to help communicate how we would go about it.’
Working hard Derry was awarded the contract in January 2011 and began a series of intensive meetings with the FA, Hilton Hotels and the project’s principal designer, Aecom, before finally starting work in August of that year.
Being responsible for the delivery of the full
turnkey M&E package required meticulous planning. Caborn states: ‘We knew that we would need to complete the work in a methodical fashion. Therefore, we made sure that any potential issues regarding the products used and where they were to be sited were ironed out well before we embarked on the first fix. This gave us the flexibility to make any minor amends during this part of the job, and also meant that the final fix saw very little change from the original plans.’ The company had upwards of 100 employees on
site during peak working periods. It also appointed and worked alongside specialist subcontractors with which it held regular meetings and workshops to optimise working patterns on site. Caborn comments: ‘Due to the sheer variety of the buildings at St George’s Park, the job involved more specialist subcontractors than we would usually work with.
Facilities management
Here’s a breakdown of the key facilities at St George’s Park: nA senior training pitch that replicates the exact dimensions of the pitch at Wembley Stadium;
n11 outdoor pitches in total, five of which have floodlighting and undersoil heating;
nA full-size indoor 3G artificial pitch with viewing gallery for up to 200 people;
nAn indoor 60m sprint track, with equipment to measure speed and running style;
nA multi-sport indoor hall suitable for badminton and netball, plus football pitches for the partially sighted;
nA gym with the most up-to-date and high quality equipment available;
nThe Sports Medicine Centre – a world class centre for sports medicine and research;
n Dedicated practice and training areas for goalkeepers; nA 30m-long outdoor training hill with a 20° slope for fitness and conditioning; and
nTwo hotels operated by Hilton under one roof as part of an agreement with the FA – one is four-star with 142 rooms, where the England teams will stay and have their own private facilities; the other is a three-star hotel with 86 rooms.
The design of St George’s Park incorporates systems and services that will reduce the overall energy usage of the building
However, due to the way we operated, we managed to gain a understanding of everyone’s working practices.’
Good to go As a state-of-the-art complex, it is no surprise that energy efficiency featured high on the FA’s wish list, and Derry played an instrumental role in helping it achieve a BRE Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) ‘very good’ rating. There are a number of elements that determine
the overall energy performance of a new construction project and, in order to maintain a flexible system, BREEAM awards credits that are aligned to particular requirements. Caborn explains: ‘BREEAM sets minimum standards in a number of key areas, including energy usage and
Indoor swimming pools at the centre
November 2012 ECA Today 43
The FA / The FA via Getty Images / Paul Thomas
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