Halley 6—Design for Antarctic Research
Alan Fox, CEng, AECOM
The new Halley 6 base is required to meet the stringent Antarctic Environmental Protocol. It is designed to deal with the extreme temperatures of -560 degrees Celsius (C) and high winds. It has the ability to be relocated to a new site during its life due to the effects of a moving ice shelf and up to one-and-a-half meters per year of snow accumulation. The project must also be delivered to site pre-packaged for construction to be assembled in three 10-week summer seasons. The third construction season has been completed, and the final season will focus on the commissioning and testing. To achieve this, over 90 percent of the base has been prefabricated off-site. Plantroom, bathroom, and bedroom pods have been manufactured in the United Kingdom (U.K.), while the steel frame and composite panels forming the insulated envelope were manufactured in Cape Town, South Africa.
The ski-based jackable modules will be linked together to create a dramatic new station, which will propel Antarctic design into the 21st century. The design provides the first ever re-locatable modular research station, introducing the very best accommodation for both living and working. It will be the envy of Antarctica as a beacon for sustainable living, and above all, it will provide an icon to draw attention to some of the most significant and influential science research projects conducted on our planet today, as well as inspire a new generation of engineers. The design team was selected following a competition held by the British Antarctic Survey and the Royal Institute of British Architects. During the design process, the energy targets were continually challenged as the base relies solely on aviation fuel, for which the cost of transportation is significant. A key target was to provide a larger research facility but without using any more fuel than their current base. In addition, systems had to be simple in their nature to allow ease of maintenance.
Biography:
Alan Fox specializes in laboratory and pharmaceutical projects and is the sector lead for Europe. Mr. Fox is responsible for the administration management and technical standards of a multi-disciplinary team of engineering personnel engaged on the design, construction, and commissioning of environmental services for a wide range of laboratory projects and other buildings. Within AECOM, Mr. Fox provides a lead role in the laboratory and pharmaceutical sector to maintain standards and to ensure delivery of innovative and low-energy design concepts. In addition, Mr. Fox has played a key role in leading the design for the award-winning, low-energy Salisbury Millennium store and the innovative Halley 6 project for the British Antarctic Survey. Mr. Fox has also contributed to the laboratory design sections of the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) guides and to recent Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) standards and has presented the approach to sustainability for the University of Oxford Chemistry Research Laboratory for the U.K. Higher Education Environmental Partnership Improvement (HEEPI) organization.