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Arup and Wales Millennium Centre
The Wales Millennium Centre opened to the public on Friday 26th November with a range of performances to celebrate the occasion. From concept through to completion, Arup applied a unique design approach to help create this 33 000m2 state-of-the-art performance venue.
Arup's specialist design skills were applied to the building programme so that external and internal work could be performed simultaneously. This was achieved by erecting a steel-framed structure that enabled work to commence on the interior earlier than it would with a traditional approach.
Arup project director Chris Jofeh said: ' The key to our approach was to separate the design of the structure from the design of the acoustic and architectural enclosure. This enabled an early start on the structural frame whilst also allowing the architectural and acoustical design of the interior to be refined. The design caters for a range of performances from opera to ballet to amplified sound.'”
Arup applied a range of services to the project including: acoustics, structural, mechanical, electrical, public health, civil, geotechnical, transport planning and fire engineering. The geotechnical input was extensive and dealt with not only supporting the 45,000 tonne building, but also with the contamination in the ground that resulted from the industrial history of the site. A site-specific risk assessment, in relation to the proposed end-use and development proposals, was carried out and this allowed the contaminated soils to be left in place and isolated.
The foundation of the building also presented key design challenges for the project. The site contains the buried walls of three massive former dock structures (Bute West Dock, Bute East Dock Basin and the Junction Dry Dock) built during the mid-to-late 19th century, all with differing designs and founding conditions. Arup considered a number of options for dealing with these constraints and decided that pile foundations would be constructed around the majority of the buried structures within the development.
A collaborative effort between Wales Millennium Centre Ltd, Arup, architect Percy Thomas Partnership (now Capita Percy Thomas) and design and build contractor Sir Robert McAlpine has produced a centre that will house seven major Welsh arts organisations, with a flexible 1852-seat lyric theatre at its heart, plus extensive back of house facilities, rehearsal spaces along with plenty of cafes and shops.
29th November 2004
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