Capella Laboratory, Cambridge

Scale

4,135 precast concrete components, 400 Deltabeams, 4,035m³ of reinforced structural concrete and 250 structural steel units.

Flexibility

PCE’s Hybrid floor plate design enabled flat soffits thus simplifying M&E services fit out whilst enabling flexibility in partitioning and use of floor space.

Quality

Structure designed and constructed to achieve a very low Vibration Criteria of A(VC-A), whilst pre-glazed external precast concrete sandwich panels were used with a high class of architectural finish.

Programme

The onsite construction programme was 20 weeks faster than the original insitu concrete scheme proposed and with a reduced workforce over 2,500 site operative weeks were saved.

Click here to request a PDF version of the Capella project overview »

Project awards and published articles

June 2017. PCE/Kier – Commendation, Offsite Awards, Best Hybrid Construction Project.

June 2017. PCE/Kier – Winner, Construction News Awards, Supply Chain Excellence.

March 2018. PCE – Winner, Offsite Awards, Best use of concrete.

March 2018. PCE – Winner, Offsite Awards, Winner of Winners.

May 2018. Concrete Society Magazine – A shining example of modern concrete construction.

The Capella Project story

Capella Project Pinterest Board »

How University of Exeter and PCE met “stringent” vibration control requirements

Hybrid techniques provide “shining example of modern concrete construction”

“Winner of winners” recognition for PCE’s offsite engineered laboratory project

PCE awards for offsite hybrid construction project in UK

2 Offsite Awards for PCE’s contribution to Capella project in Cambridge

PCE assist Kier to win Construction News Award

Capella update 16 – small site footprint doesn’t delay completion

Capella update 15 – integration of precast façade

Capella update 14 – 120m2 external pre glazed cladding per day per crane

Capella update 13 – final precast concrete columns installed

Capella update 12 – 5th floor construction

Precast concrete construction – this is what can be achieved in 105 days!

Capella update 10 – overcoming the problems of a small site footprint

Capella update 9 – 126m3 concrete poured on ground floor topping

Capella update 8 – the benefits of hybrid precast construction

Capella update 7 – solid core walls added at north end

Capella update 6 – hybrid construction project takes shape

Capella update 5 – 250m³ of concrete into the retaining walls

Capella update 4 – offsite construction demonstrates what can be achieved in a week

Capella update 3 – waterproof basement wall construction

Capella update 2 – first precast wall panel – only 4,134 units to go!

Kier choose PCE as superstructure construction partner

Location: Cambridge, UK
Architect: Fairhursts Design Group
Main Contractor: Kier Group
Consulting Engineers: Arup

The benefits of hybrid construction:

Project Capella was transformed from blank piece of paper to an enclosed building in 24 months.

Finite element analysis along with specialist vibration analysis software was utilised to model the structure and the stiffness of the floor plates to develop an appropriate composite slab arrangement.

This, coupled with the benefits of constructing the superstructure in its entirety, including façade, from basement slab to roof resulted in a level of optimisation never seen before in this sector.