Wates Construction has been appointed as pre-construction stage partner on the redevelopment of the British Library site at Boston Spa, West Yorkshire.
Wates will be working alongside the client’s design team up to RIBA Stage 4 with services engineer, Buro Happold and London-based, architectural practice, Carmody Groarke.
The scheme involves the construction of a net zero carbon archive building which will feature a public viewing gallery and 220km of extra shelf space, together with an extensive renovation of the nearby 1970s Brutalist-style Urquhart Building for the library’s 550 on-site staff, including a new reading room, restaurant and café for visitors.
During this early phase, the contractor will use its approach to creating airtight buildings by constructing large-scale prototypes. These will be used to test the design theories needed to fulfil the exacting sustainability criteria – in the case of the new build, to achieve BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ and Passivhaus Accredited ratings, while the renovated Urquhart Building has been designed to achieve BREEAM ‘Excellent’.
Phil Spence, Chief Operating Officer, British Library, said: “This is a significant milestone for our Boston Spa site, which will transform the accessibility of our collections and services to people nationally. We look forward to working with our design team to deliver vital facilities that will support the growth of the national collection and open up access to a new generation of visitors.”
David Wingfield, Regional Director North East, Wates Construction, said: “We are delighted with our appointment. We know from past projects that the most critical success factors when constructing airtight buildings are genuine partnership and teamwork, for which Wates Construction has a proven track record.
“This project will set the standard for facilities of this type worldwide. Nothing like this archive has been built in the UK before, where the environment is completely airtight, and when complete, a fully automated racking and robotics system will be used to retrieve documents.
“It is both a fascinating and challenging project to work on, requiring cutting edge sustainable design solutions, and given its novel, world-beating status, a highly-coveted role for any contractor to secure.”
