Sorry, www.ridge.co.uk is not supported by Internet Explorer.
Ridge has been involved with the Enstone site since the construction of the main building in 1991. Ridge were appointed to design a state-of-the-art CFD Facility to accommodate one of the biggest super-computers in Europe, along with entrance and exhibition space, a 60-seat auditorium and an office space with 30 workstations.
The headquarters site is an SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest) in the Cotswolds. Any scheme here required a creative solution subject to onerous planning restrictions.
Ridge designed the facility to be built underground and engineered a landscape scheme to minimise the impact on the environment. 14,000m³ of soil was excavated and redistributed on site, designed and planned to spare the local villages the traffic of an estimated 1,700 loads of 8-wheel HGV’s.
The subterranean building is a very simple structure and makes use of a matière pre-cast arch structure, used for tunnels and bridges.
Ridge worked with the manufacturer and successfully adapted the structure to provide the main envelope for the building. The solution won a Concrete Society award for Innovation.