NEW TRAINING CENTRE FOR CEMENT & CONCRETE ASSOC.
S
INCE 1950 more than 16,500 peo- ple have taken part in training courses organised by the United King- dom's Cement and Concrete Associa- tion. Even so the demand for places has far exceeded the places available and in 1964 the association decided to build a new training centre close by their existing school and research sta- tion on a 40-acre estate at Wexham Springs in Buckinghamshire.
The site faces south and is bound- ed on the north and east by mature trees and hedges. Landscaping was included in the design but was not over-emphasised because of the natur- al surroundings and was limited to lawns and flagged terraces between the buildings.
The new buildings are disposed to form a quadrangle, adjacent to Ful- mer Grange, the association's early twentieth century mansion in the Jacobean style. They consist of: two residential blocks; four lecture theatres in two blocks; a single-storey block containing refectory, kitchen, staff dining room, two lounges, boiler-room and other ancillaries; three laboratories and a large drawing office.
Residential Blocks
The two identical four-storey resi- dential blocks provide 160 study-bed- rooms for the participants on the courses. Each of the 160 study bed- rooms 16 ft. 5 in. by 9 ft. 5 in. has its own fully equipped bathroom with wash basin and w.c., arranged ensuite, with a small lobby giving ac- cess to it and to the centre corridor beyond. On each floor, located cen- trally between the north and south groups of bedroom units, are various ancillary rooms for drying, storage,
etc.
Because of the repetitive nature of the accommodation, it was decided to use an industrialized method of con- struction, an adapted form of the Bison Wall Frame system.
Each block is constructed on a 10 ft. module of precast concrete load- bearing cross-walls supporting precast concrete floor slabs and with non- load-bearing fenestrated. precast ex- terior panels. Cross-wall units are 17 ft. 6 in. wide by 7 ft. 5 in. high and 7 in. thick; the floor slabs are of sand- wich construction 10 ft. square and 8 in. thick; and the exterior panels are 10 ft. wide. 8 ft. 4 in. high and 10 in. thick, of lightweight concrete with a dense concrete outer skin.
Interior walls, floors and ceilings have a smooth concrete finish, but na-
Far East Architect & Builder January, 1968
ALEX GORDON & PARTNERS
VERYARD & PARTNERS
architects
ENGINEERING DESIGN CONSULTANTS
consulting engineers
quantity surveyors
environmental consultants
JAMES NISBET & PARTNERS
HOWARD FARROW CONSTRUCTION LTD.
main contractors
Tower housing lifts and staircases at north end of one of the two bedroom blocks. Dense grey concrete block construction has been used
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