About this
project
Main Contractor: Balfour Beatty Construction Client: Black Country Living Museum (BCLM)
Known as the 'Forging ahead' project, this new development provides a fascinating insight into how life was from the 1940s-1960s with various buildings and contents of that era and a Visitor Centre as the new entrance to the Museum.
Steane completed the Mechanical and Electrical Design and Installation for these works which opened in Summer 2023.
The Visitor Centre consists of an information area, Shop, Viewing deck and welfare facilities.
The Historic town consists of a Co-op Supermarket, Post Office, West Bromwich Building Society, Army and Navy Store, Ladies Wear, Hairdressers, Music Shop, Infant Welfare Clinic Replica and Elephant and Castle Pub which was based on an original 1905 pub in Wolverhampton.
Also in our remit was a new industrial area consisting of three new industrial buildings (Smith Edge Tools, Lavenders Foundry and Brickworks) and two Cast iron houses from 1925 that were taken down from Dudley and moved to the site.
Some more detail
In the new Visitor Centre, the installation comprised of all new supply cabling, LED lighting and Emergency lighting, Fire Alarm, CCTV, disabled alarm, access control, Lightning protection, all small power and data.
A new air source heat pump was installed as the primary heating system with underfloor heating with BMS control, comfort cooling and was designed to be naturally ventilated.
Other mechanical items included for hot and cold water services, Natural gas installation, Various toilet blocks and associated works and overdoor curtain heaters.
Our works package included for a new incoming 11kva electricity supply with two transformers, Site wide data and communication cabling and fire cabling.
Externally we installed pathway and general street lighting around the Visitor centre and in the Car Park and relocated the tram/trolley bus overhead lines which included a 600V DC invertor and upgraded safety controls.
In the Historic Town area, the above services were duplicated but all in line with the historic theme of the buildings for the period 1940-60's. This included a mixture of general plumbing, toilets, some functional, some period features, underfloor heating and cast iron rads.
