Insight 2017

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7 THE QUEEN'S COLLEGE LIBRARY INSIGHT building and associated Grade II listed walls, took great skill and ingenuity on behalf of the construction team. The designed secant piling was located around the excavation up against the lines of the existing structures, and in one case within 100mm of the library facade. Weekly monitoring of Piling machine t h e s u r r o u n d i n g buildings made sure that the ground support measures that had been put in place were working and could be constantly adjusted if required. Monitoring concrete before and after casting Whilst the New Library piling and excavation were being executed, the dismantling of the joinery in the Lower Library took place: labelling, scheduling, photographing all the parts, careful removal and transferring off site for 15 months into storage for later inclusion. Trying to keep a low profile in the back of the College garden with the only access via Queens & New College Lane was not easy. Trying to ship out soil; approximately 8861 tonnes of excavated materials and at the same time bring in 3000 tonnes of concrete and new materials through the tight restrictions of the Lane, was challenging to say the least. We restricted the sizes and width of the delivery vehicles and in some cases the m a t erials b eing delivered. As a result, daily monitoring and cleaning of the lane by our staff, and weekly cleaning with the road sweeper, was necessary. The pump used during the build to place concrete Contractors worked hard over the 18 months to keep members of the public and tourists safe whilst escorting the delivery trucks and materials safely to the site, sometimes, with agreement of all parties and Oxford City Council, in the early hours of the mornings to reduce the risk to the public and students. After extensive archaeology for approximately 3 months by Oxford Archaeology the site was passed over to us to progress with the works, during the bulk excavation one of the ground work team spotted and unearthed an earwax and tooth pick which was returned to the College for display (approximate length 10cm). The finds liaison officer dated this to 13th-15th (medieval) which would correspond to the early arrangement for The Queens College (before the wholesale rebuilding of the 17th/18th) when this area seems likely to have been used as a quarry for building materials; pits for toilets; and the dumping of rubbish. The artefact, an expensive item for the time, was a personal grooming item likely to have been accidentally dropped down the toilet by a student or scholar. Toothpick/earwax implement found during the excavation With the type of reinforced concrete structure proposed, most buildings are built to a B.S. or E.N. (British or European standards) for location and verticality, in all instances the structures have exceeded this quality standard allowing the design team certainty in their design. Every reinforcement bar was engineered, designed, drawn, scheduled, delivered to site, cut, bent and then positioned by hand. Each was measured to fit its correct location to carry out the job it is required to do. 138 tonnes of steel reinforcement has been placed by hand (as shown in the photo below) by experienced skilled workers. Escorted deliveries along Queen’s lane to the construction site Our great band of banksmen from Curtis
Michaelmas <strong>2017</strong> 8 Interesting Statistics for the Project 299 concrete piles were used to support the ground & structure of the new building. They also anchor the library in place; pile length of 3000 metres (3km) if positioned end to end. There are 10 ground source piles which extend 50 metres below the building basement level. 8861 tonnes of excavated soil was removed. 2000 cubic metres of concrete was delivered and pumped into the ground (approximately 5000 tonnes). 138 tonnes of reinforcement strengthens the concrete which supports the library structure. 94,338.5 hours have been employed on site by the various trades (this excludes the production time of offsite manufacture and work by office or design staff). 9km of electrical wiring was used. 60 separate contractors have had an input to the works on site, many of them have a specialist knowledge for a particular part of the build. 737 site personnel & visitors have been inducted and managed on site. The location of the site mid way along Queens Lane required a smaller than normal concrete truck which could deliver the concrete directly to the site along the very narrow road and around the tight corners in the lane. Our happy band of lads on the logistics team escorted the concrete trucks to and from the site daily ensuring the safety of the public and monitoring the vehicles passing safely through the historic lane. This amounted to over 2000 vehicle movements. Small concrete lorry escorted to and from the site Creating the ground-level main entrance to the New Library brought many challenges: working inside the historic Grade I listed building in a working library; making sure the vital services of the library were not disturbed, and, ensuring all of the designed construction fitted into the space required; lift, staircase and final finishes. It was one area of the build that had all the makings of a big problem, and could have all gone terribly wrong. However, it had been planned and designed well, the design fitted like a glove, millimetre precision in fact, no second chances. Positioning the 7-tonne piling rig into the building through the listed structure onto the timber floors was a concern to Contractors Design Services, our temporary works engineer, but with an engineered solution to strengthen the floors we quickly overcame the issue, and the piling rig operated easily to form the temporary piles and the permanent piles. The entrance in the Lower Library was hand excavated (about 450 cubic metres) around the piles and support structure, with the new structure in place the temporary works were removed and temporary piles disposed of. Great care was taken throughout not to create too much disruption or disturbance to the College by the groundwork team. The Lower Library panelling was removed in order to install the new sliding glass door Reinstatement of the lower library panelling and bookcases, which arrived back from the Botley Road storage depot piece by piece, was carried out lovingly by the Cliveden conservation team of carpenters. The Lower Library panelling was refurbished, refinished and polished to match the existing panelling. Finally, the new glass sliding door was installed behind the panelling. The design for this project aimed to limit the visual Work by Cliveden Conservation to aspect of a complex reinstall the Lower Library Panelling mechanical and electrical design by concealing as much of the ventilation and electrical systems within the structure of the building. Under the raised flooring is the supply air ducting and the majority of the electrical services which are supported on hand crafted cable trays and baskets. What lies beneath: example of the cable tray and basket used underneath the flooring to conceal complex systems used in the build
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Insight 2017

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