The Zoo’s iconic species will move into their new ‘eden’ early next year. The three storey building and outdoor area will encourage natural behaviours whilst offering visitors a more engaging way of watching and learning about the chimpanzees. Construction of the £2.6 million facility headed up by main contractor B&K Building Services commenced in March, FP McCann initially supplied approximately 820m2 of horizontal prestressed concrete panels to steel erector Robinson Structures to form the solid structural walling in the steel frame building. The supply only phase of the project was followed on in September with the FP McCann specialist fixing team employed by B&K to start the construction of the boundary wall to the habitat. The prestressed vertical cantilever panels ranging in heights from 2.10 metres to 8.00 metres and in panel thickness of 200 mm and 240 mm were delivered from FP McCann’s Lydney precast concrete plant in Gloucestershire on a just-in-time basis, due to vehicle and space restrictions on site. The variation in unit heights allows for the elevation changes designed into the jungle style habitat.FP McCann were first contacted in December 2015 to help Midlands based Couch Consulting Engineers in the initial development designs for the new chimpanzee environment.Commenting on the supply and install second phase of the scheme, Liam Chapman project manager for B&K says, “We have worked alongside both the FP McCann technical and contracting teams throughout the programme of delivery and installation of the precast concrete vertical cantilever panels. This robust concrete walling system was the obvious choice with speed of construction being a key benefit in helping us deliver the overall build programme to schedule.”Note: Twycross Zoo is an award winning conservation charity and visitor attraction that welcomes around 500,000 people a year to its 80-acre site in Leicestershire. It funds and conducts scientific research and has an award-winning education and outreach programme.
For further information, call 0844 474 1777, or visit www.twycrosszoo.org
For further information on FP McCann’s precast concrete Walling solutions, contact the team at Lydney on 01594 847500 or email: sales@fpmccann.co.uk
