Sleeper Manufacturing Facility

The Brief

Working with JF Finnegan, Race Cottam Associates have designed a Concrete Sleeper Manufacturing Facility for end user Trackwork Moll and Network Rail. The site is located off Ten Pound Walk, Doncaster, adjacent to the East Coast Main Line Railway Line and approximately one mile from Doncaster town centre.

The Design

The design responds to a thorough site and contextual analysis, detailed consideration of the technical requirements of the facility and design implications for noise, transport and visual impact. As a result, the scheme has been treated simply with clear forms and a limited palette of materials, which celebrate the grand scale of the facility.

The building comprises three main components; a centrally located production hall including storage areas, workshops and plant, office and welfare facilities, and an enclosure to house the concrete silos and batching plant.

The Outcome

The building has been designed to achieve a minimum BREEAM ‘good’ rating with 10% of the office block energy requirements coming from on site renewables. Alongside the use of robust materials, energy efficient components and controls, occupied and unoccupied spaces are treated differently in terms of heating, ventilation and lighting provision to minimise energy use.