Discovery Building at UK’s Rothera Research Station completed by team including Bam, T&T and Ramboll to Hugh Broughton Architects design
Hugh Broughton Architects’ £100m research building at the UK’s main base in Antarctica has officially opened after a six-year construction project in one of the most extreme environments on the planet.
The 4,500sq m Discovery Building is the largest project ever undertaken by the UK in Antarctica and will be the operational hub at the British Antarctic Survey’s Rothera Research Station, the capital of the British Antarctic Territory.
Built by Bam in collaboration with Ramboll, Sweco, Turner & Townsend Alinea and G&A Barnie Group, the two-storey building has been delivered on time and on budget following a complex construction programme requiring meticulous logistics planning.
Construction work on the scheme could only be carried out during the continent’s brief summer season, with materials transported more than 8,000 miles to site and teams battling the site’s unpredictable weather while ensuring surrounding wildlife remains unaffected.
The 100-room facility replaces a series of ageing infrastructure spread across multiple buildings, combining operations under one roof including the research station’s communications centre and its entire power and water supplies.
It is intended to provide a safer and more efficient environment for the approximately 100 staff who work at the station, and has been designed to reduce carbon emissions by 25% through improved energy efficiency.
The project is part of the UK government’s wider £670m Antarctic Infrastructure Modernisation Programme (AIMP), which is now in the process of deconstructing six redundant buildings at the station following the opening of the Discovery Building.
AIMP director Elen Jones said the scheme “represents the scale of collaboration and long-term planning required to deliver major infrastructure in Antarctica”.
She added: “the co-ordination of multiple experts in such a remote environment has been a significant achievement. We want to thank everyone who’s played a part in developing, designing and delivering this building and are incredibly excited to see it come to life.”
Other projects completed under the AIMP programme include upgrades to wharfs at Rothera and a sister station on South Georgia, King Edward Point, along with an upgraded runway at Rothera and the UK’s polar research ship RRS Sir David Attenborough.
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