STFC lodges super-computing centre plans

The Science & Technology Facilities Council has registered its intention to develop a 33,000 sq ft facility on land south of the Sci-Tech Daresbury campus.

Plans to develop a super-computing centre on a 6.2-acre site have been filed with Halton Council by Stride Treglown, the project’s architect and planner.

Stride Treglown’s design & access statement said the project “would enable STFC to remain at the forefront of large-scale computing in the UK and would provide the computational infrastructure necessary to support the UK into the middle of the century”.

The architect added that the project has been designed with a mind to the largely rural landscape to the south of the site.

Arup is leading a multidisciplinary team for what is described as a single-storey building, including a data hall, offices, loading and other facilities, with the building’s main purpose being to house a new high-performance computer, to be procured and installed by a separate contract.

The office space will house permanent staff and provide touchdown space for third party visitors. STFC Daresbury as a whole employs around 300 people currently.

The professional team also includes project manager Arcadis, quantity surveyor Rider Levett Bucknall, ecologist Tyler Grange and acoustics advisor Hoare Lea.

The site is allocated for employment use, and community consultation has been carried out, with no responses received from local residents.