Fire engineering specialist appointed to South Pole project
The Manchester office of national fire engineering consultancy, OFR Consultants, has been appointed to undertake work on the largest British Antarctic Survey (BAS) facility, the Rothera Research Station.
Working with global engineering firm Ramboll, the OFR team will join Ramboll working on the project which is based at the southern tip of the Wormald Ice Piedmont, on Adelaide Island to the west of the Antarctic Peninsula.
BAS delivers and enables world-leading interdisciplinary research in the Polar Regions.
Its skilled science and support staff work together to deliver research that uses the Polar Regions to advance our understanding of earth as a sustainable planet.
BAS is an institute of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). NERC is part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), a new organisation that brings together the UK’s seven research councils, Innovate UK and Research England.
The largest BAS research facility, Rothera Research Station supports a wide range of BAS, UK and international collaborative science programmes.
There are two projects under way at Rothera, including a new wharf and masterplan, that includes a new science and operations building and site-wide services to reduce operating costs and keep Rothera fit-for-purpose to facilitate world-leading research for at least the next 25 years.
OFR, led by director Simon Lay and Alex Williams is looking at how a robust fire strategy can be developed for this unique project, with a special emphasis on protecting the main storage areas for the facility as re-supply is, naturally, a major challenge.
Speaking about the exciting project, Simon Lay, who co-founded OFR Consultants in 2016 said: “In just over three years we have established a global reputation for delivering the highest quality, technically-led fire safety solutions across a huge variety of projects and markets.
“We are thrilled to be appointed by Ramboll on this project, and to be working together as part of the innovative team to deliver greater value and outcomes on this internationally renowned scheme.
“Our team of 60, who each operate from our offices across the UK, have specialist fire engineering experience – giving us the ability to work with our clients to advise from project conception, design and construction and then on to operation and legacy.”
He added: “This project is a great example of how our business is working with world-leading consultancies to provide our team with the most exciting and progressive opportunities.”
