Balfour Beatty Civil Engineering Ltd

Brockholes Visitor Village

Customer: Lancashire Wildlife Trust

Balfour Beatty Regional Civil Engineering (BBRCE), working with its sister company Mansell, created the unique Brockholes Visitors Village, near Preston for The Lancashire Wildlife Trust.

The 5,700 tonne structure floats on a lake in Brockholes Nature Reserve and received a BREEM Outstanding Award for its sustainability credentials. It is the first building of its kind in the UK.

BBRCE was responsible for creating the floating pontoon and Mansell constructed the five single-storey buildings that sit on the pontoon. The 65 metre by 42 metre floating pontoon was constructed on a dried lake bed before the centre was built on top of it. To ensure suction did not cause the pontoon to stick to the ground and prevent it from floating, the pontoon was cast on a layer of plastic "egg crate" that allowed water to creep underneath as it was floated.

The pontoon was constructed on site which meant extensive preparatory works. The lake where it was due to be sited was dewatered by land drains with a pumping station directing the water to a nearby lake. A protective bund was created - a form of dry dock - where more than 4,000 tonnes of reinforced concrete was poured to form the pontoon.

The pontoon sits in the lake and is connected to a car park area by two steel walkways accessed via two drawbridges that are pulled up at night.

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