Hewitt Studios LLP - CLT Flat-Pack Workshops
Project Details
Project - CLT Flat-Pack Workshops
Sector - Education
Technology - Timber / Steel
Company - Hewitt Studios LLP
Project Overview
This project is a sustainable new-build workshop sporting an innovative and highly-efficient pre-fabricated timber structure.
It is situated on the Holme Lacy campus of Herefordshire and Ludlow College and is used primarily for the maintenance of tractors and other agricultural machinery.
Time and budget were both tight on this project - the workshop had to be delivered for a rate of just £1,500/m2 including specialist M&E equipment (e.g. vehicle exhaust extraction) and within a 6 month timeframe.
Our response to these constraints was to form the entire workshop's structure from a single thickness of cross-laminated timber panel, as opposed to the more conventional steel frame solution.
The frame was designed to be as efficient as possible, using a standard CLT panel in square-cut sections, with simple (yet elegant) connection details. The portal frame is formed from 200mm thick CLT columns and beams. The same material, in the same thickness, is then used for the wall and roof panels. This means that the whole building could effectively be cut from a single board type in one operation - a true 'flat-pack' fabrication - and that services could be fixed almost anywhere, giving ultimate flexibility.
