CMB Engineering are now 4 months into the PRS section of the award-winning Interchange project in Central Square, Cardiff, with ISG as the Main Contractor and Rightacres as the developer. The build is being developed on the site adjacent to the new BBC Headquarters.
The building can’t be missed as you make your way through the city, comprised of an incredible 318 apartments, a multi-storey car park, plantrooms, an 8-storey office block, as well as the new Cardiff Bus station. The Interchange has already been honoured with an award as of January this year, as the first development in the UK to be awarded BRE Home Quality Mark ONE at design stage – this refers to BRE’s new benchmarking standard for sustainability and quality in housing.
Our first-year apprentices have even contributed towards the project by providing their quickly learnt skills to manufacture steel pipe sections formed with a hydraulic bender for the project (see images).
CMB have already progressed on first fix LTHW, Domestic water, ventilation and sprinkler installations up to level 6 of the 24-storey building.
The mechanical services for the PRS and car park elements of the build briefly consist of:
A centralised boiler plant room which supplies 24/7 LTHW to the heat interface unit within each apartment.
54,000 Litre cold water storage tank complete with cold water booster set, providing potable water to all apartments.
Ventilation to each apartment is facilitated via an MVHR unit, providing fresh tempered air into the living spaces and bedrooms, and extracting stale air from the bathroom pods and kitchen areas.
The building is fully installed with a sprinkler system, wet riser (for the tower) and dry risers in the remaining areas, fed from the plant area via electric pumps and standby diesel pumps for resilience.
All stairwells and extended corridors are fully protected by a mixture of mechanical and passive smoke control systems.
Automatic BMS control system & metering
Above ground drainage and rainwater systems
Below ground water and gas infrastructure
As we look to the next stage of the Interchange development, the plantroom, car park installations and first major plant deliveries are all due to commence soon, with the office section of the build starting further down the line.
Take a look at some of the photos taken by our team when visiting the site below and stay tuned to our social medias and website for further updates as the project develops.
