The National Space Centre is home to the UK’s largest planetarium and iconic 42 metre-high Rocket Tower which attracts around 300,000 visitors annually.
The Space Centre commissioned a new reception and ticketing hall “The Launch Pad” to improve wayfinding and enhance facilities in time for summer 2018 school holidays.
The brief was to deliver a cost-effective 190m2 new build extension to create an ‘out of this world’ visitor experience, enhancing the Space Centre’s public profile. However, the iconic Rocket Tower’s inner and outer layer of ETFE (Ethylene Tetrafluoroethylene) brought its own set of challenges.
The project pushed the boundaries of considerate construction scoring 48/50 which benchmarked added value against 9,000 other sites, placing it within the top 1% in the UK.
Collaboration was built into every step of the process from procurement, delivery to end use. The National Space Centre remains the UK’s largest visitor attraction and research facility dedicated to space, whilst contributing to the city’s booming tourism economy.
