CASE STUDY HALLEY VI
H
alley VI must be one of the coolest places on earth to live, literally. The research station is located 15km from the sea on the
fl oating Brunt Ice Shelf that forms part of the Antarctic ice cap. Temperatures this close to the South Pole drop to -50°C in winter and even at the height of summer they struggle to rise above freezing. In addition to the extreme cold there is also the wind: Halley VI’s proximity to the open sea means the site is regularly buffeted by gusts in excess of 100kph. Designed by engineering consultancy
Aecom and Hugh Broughton Architects, Halley VI has been created to sustain the lives of the scientists that permanently occupy one of the most hostile and remote places on earth. It also has to comply with the strict requirements of the Antarctic Treaty Environmental Protocol, so its environmental impact has to be minimal. As a result, Halley VI generates its own heat and power, has minimal
water consumption and even processes its own waste. And when it fi nally does reach the end of its life, the building’s design means it can be removed without leaving a trace.
Eight-legged freak Halley VI became fully operational earlier this year after a three-year construction period. The research station is the most southerly of all the British Antarctic Survey’s facilities. Halley VI is the sixth incarnation of a research station in this hostile location since 1956. Its fi rst four predecessors were designed to be buried by snow, over a metre of which falls on the continent each year. Under this relentless inundation, each base survived about a decade before becoming entombed in ice. By the time of Halley’s fi fth incarnation
in 1992, its design had evolved to avoid being buried. This station was built on extendable legs to raise it above the snow. Despite the success of the elevating
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April 2013 CIBSE Journal 27
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