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Continued...
Measuring about 17 metres long x eight metres wide x six metres
high, the Drewry building provides accommodation for 30 people on two levels,
with the ground floor housing cooking and dining areas, clothing and food
storage, toilets, laundry and the plant room, while the bedrooms are on the
first floor. The internal temperature can be maintained between 17°C and 20°C.
The building weighs 45 tonnes, including all fixtures and
fittings, and is usually re-located twice a year. The design and size of the
skids and the re-location procedure are very similar to those for the garage.
Because of the short Antarctic summer and the need to minimise disruption to the
base's work, the BAS set a target time for assembly, fitting-out and
commissioning of 14 days and also specified that no single item could weigh more
than 1500kg. Before the building was packed for shipping, it was fully assembled
and approved by the BAS. It was first used during the 1994-95 season.
Elsewhere in the Antarctic the concept of jackable buildings is
still being used, notably by the US National Science Foundation in a £100
million project to replace its Amundsen-Scott station at the South Pole. Through
snow-drift control the designers of this station believe the buildings will only
need to be lifted twice during their projected 25 year life.
Photographs supplied by the
British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge - www.bas.ac.uk
August 2004 |
