Arctic role

March 2010, Antarctica. The austral summer is fading and the new British Antarctic Survey (BAS) research station, Halley VI, an elevated strip of space-age, interconnected pods, is complete and ready for handover. Soon, the scientists based in 20-year-old Halley V will relocate to the shiny new building – which has been obsessively perfected to suit their needs - and continue their cutting edge research. The timing is critical: Halley V will soon be rendered useless when the Brunt ice shelf, on which it sits, breaks away from the mainland.

The station’s delivery in 2010, if all goes to plan, will be a high point for Morrison Construction’s Simon Gill, the project manager who began his south polar career as a BAS-employed carpenter. He will begin the construction phase in December this year, overseeing the delivery of the first components to Antarctica.

It will also be a significant milestone for service engineer Mike Maslin, one of Faber Maunsell’s key team members, and architect Hugh Broughton, who tell CM the story behind this classic feat of British engineering, design and construction. It’s a tale of symbiotic teamwork and technology transfer, science fiction and science fact, as well as expert planning and long-haul logistics.

The story begins in 2004 when the Royal Institute of British Architects announced a competition to design a new research station for BAS. Broughton recalls: “Despite being an architectural competition, the nature of the brief demanded an engineering lead.” As chance would have it, at the competition’s launch he was seated next to Faber Maunsell’s Mike White who, having worked with Brougton before, offered to team up.

It was a smart, complementary pairing. “From the beginning we realised that the project was as much about logistics, environment and dealing with incessant snow accumulation,

as architecture,” says Maslin. It was the beginning of a year-long, rigorous competition process but their concept, out of 86 entries, would go on to make a shortlist of six and then a final cut of three.

The brief stressed efficiency in terms of energy use, space standards, building components, waste management and spares, “the big issues down there,” says Maslin. For Broughton the challenge was creating a “micro-community” that demanded design expertise in a number of disciplines including science, medicine, housing, catering and leisure.

Nevertheless, Broughton reveals that despite the real-world pragmatism required by the demanding brief, science fiction played a part too. Laughing, he confesses: “Throughout the design process, I had a model of a Thunderbirds craft sitting on my desk and our team took inspiration from the cutaway diagrams in the accompanying annuals!”

In the early stages of the competition the team were able to consult Faber Maunsell’s sister firm AECOM, which had experience of working on US South Pole facilities. “It meant that out of the final six we were well ahead in terms of practical knowledge,” says Maslin. Throughout, Morrison, which maintains a long-term partnership agreement with BAS, was on hand to discuss buildability concerns but it would be September 2006 before it was finally appointed contractor for Halley VI.

In the competition’s final phase, the remaining three teams were taken to Halley V to present their ideas to research staff and experience the Antarctic lifestyle. “By that stage the others had caught up with us,” Maslin concedes. “But the early knowledge we secured allowed us to come up with a modulised system that BAS felt was the best solution.”

The winning design is a series of identical bright blue modules formed from GRP moulded shells. Each sits on a steel space frame, pre-loaded with services and grounded by four hydraulic ski-legs. Two of the 10 modules are modifications and operate as the station’s “battery” supply, while a unique, outsized module – coloured red – serves as the social hub for the crew. It contains leisure and fitness zones, a hydroponic farm, a restaurant, a library and a lounge.

After their appointment, the design team revisited the Antarctic to hone their ideas. “There’s always someone who, because they live and work in that environment, is able to suggest alternative ways of doing something,” says Maslin. “So we made a few subtle design changes before it was tendered, but fundamentally, it remained true to the original submission.”

Maslin says Broughton got a lot out of the trip too. “They’ve not used architects before at BAS, so Broughton’s input was valuable.” Central to Broughton’s remit was how to design appropriately for the Antarctic and curiously it meant making private quarters just adequate – rather than too comfortable. He says: “Isolation is such a big issue. We don’t want residents to retreat to their rooms all the time. So we put more effort into making the social hub a place people would be attracted to, rather than overdoing the comfort factor in the sleeping modules.” Maslin adds that double-height social space was sacrosanct during the design process. “It was never targeted during budget reviews.”

The project was as much about logistics, environment and incessant snow as it was about architecture

Mike Maslin

Colour psychology

In addition, simulated daylight and colour psychology is incorporated to combat the effect that winter – 105 days of total darkness – has on the human psyche. Bedrooms are green and contain bespoke SAD panels that operate on a dawn setting and gradually reach full brightness to ensure regular sleep patterns. Blue has been chosen for study zones, while red – to stimulate blood flow – is used in the gym.

The station’s linear arrangement is a consequence of unusual weather conditions. Gill, who helped build Halley V in 1990, says PP that by organising the station in a line perpendicular to the wind blast, “snow management” is made easier. “Most of the time the wind blows in the same direction. When it hits the station modules, the wind speed accelerates around them, but then slows down and deposits ice and snow beyond the structure, forming wind tails that can stretch to a couple of kilometres. Any other arrangement would see the snow deposited on the actual structure.” The modules’ legs telescope upwards to allow a four-metre clearance above the snow to be maintained.

When considering the envelope, required to provide a hermetically sealed environment and withstand temperatures of -56oC, Maslin says the team turned to the aviation industry for inspiration. “Modules are moulds formed with GRP closed cell insulated panels that have proved successful in aircraft design. They operate at temperatures of -60oC in the upper atmosphere, have paint finishes that reduce UV pollution – another Antarctic issue – and fully prevent ingress.”

This last factor is especially important as “spindrift”, tiny particles of ice, causes havoc if it finds a way inside. Says Maslin: “We’ve seen examples of storage container doors that haven’t been closed properly that have been transformed into blocks of ice – because of spindrift infiltration.” A further innovation borrowed from the aviation industry is the use of aircraft diesel to power the energy modules because it remains viscous at -60oC.

Finishing touches

One of Morrison’s key subcontractors, the South African-based consortium Antarctic Marine Climate Centre, is putting the finishing touches to a prototype of the space frame and ski legs: the foundation of each module. Gill, whose firm will lead the design and build contract, is confident that his supply chain will be ready in time for a December embarkation. “I’d say it was 90-95% there. And because of its location, South Africa is an important part of the logistics.”

The build will take place over three seasons. In the first, from December 2007 through to March 2008, the space frames will be delivered on an ice-strengthened cargo ship. They will be towed by a seacat to Halley V, a distance of around 15km. There, Gill’s team will mount the frames with the weather-tight moulds. Halley V will be used as a base for construction with Morrison occupying the living quarters. Halley VI will eventually sit further inland, but building there would be nigh on impossible: contrast is too low, especially during the regular white-outs that snow and wind create.

Season two, involving the complex interior fit out, begins a year later, because as Gill notes, “there’s a weather window of three months a year”. But he adds that because of perpetual daylight during the Austral summer, they can squeeze in three eight-hour shifts a day.

Season three begins in December 2009 and ends in March 2010 when final commissioning, relocation and handover takes place. “That’s when we balance the heating and ventilation and basically fine-tune the station’s settings,” explains Maslin. “But an advantage of this modularity is that it works like a car plant. When one’s finished, it can be towed into position while the guys work on the next one. It’s just one of many project efficiencies.”

Gill, who was base commander at Rothera, BAS’s Antarctic HQ, before joining Morrison, has completed a number of projects in the Antarctic. “We’ve done clean-ups, debris removal, rebuilt a fire-damaged lab at Rothera but generally, previous works we’ve completed have had easier access and the climate has been kinder. This project is far more challenging and for me, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

Clearly at home on the icy continent, Gill recalls that on News Year’s Eve 1999 he thought, “where was I ten years ago”, before reminding himself he was in Antarctica. He then considered where he’d be ten years hence. Once again, the answer is Antarctica. Weather permitting.