Mott MacDonald is providing multidisciplinary engineering services on behalf of Seddon Construction and Lakes College for the new National College for Nuclear in West Cumbria, UK. The facility is one of five national colleges designed to address the current and future vocational skills gaps for national strategic industries.
Located within the campus of Lakes College, the two storey, standalone building will provide high quality teaching and learning and offer the curriculum and qualifications required to meet the needs of the nuclear industry. The college will feature virtual reality suites that will allow those studying to experience nuclear installations in a virtual environment, science and radiation laboratories and specialised design and modelling suites.
Mott MacDonald is offering civil and structural engineering design, as well as mechanical and electrical technical advisory services for the facility. The consultancy has already worked closely with Lakes College and the design team, including Bond Bryan Architects, to develop a solution targeting a BREEAM Excellent sustainability rating.
One of the facility’s stand out features will be a double-height, glazed façade workshop, creating a visual link to the outside world. Mott MacDonald undertook extensive solar analysis of the glazed façade to find a solution that provided both high performance glazing and the required solar shading.
Ian Besford, Mott MacDonald’s project director, said: “The National College for Nuclear represents a significant investment in training and will deliver highly-skilled experts who will maximise the opportunities this diverse industry offers to the UK.”
The new National College for Nuclear is expected to open by the end of 2017, with the aim to have trained 7,000 people by 2020.