MS1.5 Visitors Centre

Hertfordshire County Council Residual Waste Contract Close of Contract MS1 – Works Delivery Plan Confidential 1

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Document File Name: HWPP-VES-BankDoc-MS1_5-Rev Close of Contract

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Summary of Changes Made

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17.01.11 2 Draft VES Draft

18.01.11 2a Comments by authority

HCC Draft

28.01.11 CFT Final Revision VES Final Tender

17.01.11 PB Update VES Preferred Bidder

21.07.11 CoC Final Revision VES Close of Contract


Contents

MS1.5 Visitors Centre ............................................................................... 1

1.5.1 Introduction 4


Attachments:

Attachment MS1 5.1 - General panel

Attachment MS1 5.2 - Example panel - boiler and flue gas

Attachment MS1 5.3 - Example panel - scrubber and bag filter

Attachment MS1 5.4 - Communication with schools

Attachment MS1 5.5 - Feedback form


1.5.1 Introduction

Words with capital letters used throughout this Method Statement are defined in either Schedule 1 (Definitions) to the Contract or in Schedule 4 (Payment Mechanism) to the Contract.

An integral part of the Facility will be a dedicated visitor/community centre (Visitors Centre). The Contractor will design, build and operate a high profile, sustainable, multi-functional Visitors Centre located within the Facility building.

The Contractor has extensive experience in establishing and delivering Waste education activities under various contracts internationally and in the UK. These activities have included the design, build and operation of visitors' centres, the development and use of educational resources and the development and implementation of education programmes.

The specification of the Visitors Centre will be driven by a desire to provide supervised public access as close to the Facility’s activities and processes, whilst ensuring the lowest risk to the visitors, so that they may enjoy a safe and highly educational experience visiting the Facility.

This section focuses on the Visitors Centre from a Works delivery aspect while the Visitors Centre section in MS6.6 focuses on the operational aspects of the Visitors Centre.

Design of Centre

Receiving Visitors

The Visitors Centre will be located at the Facility and designed as per Schedule 2 (Authority’s Requirements) (Works Requirements) section 1.39 to 1.45.

Accessibility is a key feature of the Visitors Centre. Visits will be on a booked basis. On arriving at the Facility, either as a pedestrian/cyclist, or as a car/coach passenger, the visitor will follow the signposted directions and route to the main administration and reception area.

All visitors to the Site will be required to sign in to the Facility at the gate house shown on “Appendix 4-01 Location Map”. The Visitors Centre users and Site traffic will be kept separate for health and safety reasons. When a party arrives at the Site by bus/coach, the vehicle will be required to stop to alert the weighbridge operator that the party is on the Site, and the individual visitors will sign in at the Visitors Centre.


Figure 5.1 Parking Facilities (overall and zoom on disabled parking spaces)

There will be at least 20 parking spaces dedicated for the Visitors Centre (among 40 places in total for the Facility) and a space that can accommodate a full-sized coach, as well as a cycle rack. Additionally, four disabled parking bays will be provided immediately opposite the main entrance to the building, as shown in Figure 5.1.


Access to the Visitors Centre will be through the main entrance to the Facility building, which will be the primary entranceway. The front door to the Facility will have an intercom link to the Facility administration offices and reception area.

Access to the Visitors Centre will be by stairs or lift. This electrically operated personnel and disabled access fire lift will have a capacity of 10 persons and 830 kg. The lift will operate from car park/ground level to the offices and visitor route levels. This lift will also provide access to the Facility administration floors, where further access will be controlled using a swipe card system. Free access will only be available to the Visitors Centre reception. This process will allow visitor access to be monitored and controlled.

The receptionist will allow access through the outer door and visitors will be admitted to the main foyer and into the lift which will transport visitors to the reception area (example of Sheffield reception in Figure. 5.2).

The design of the visitor route and Visitors Centre will allow for full access of a range of visitors of various ages and abilities and will be fully Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) and Equality Act 2010 compliant. Fully compliant Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) and Equality Act 2010 access will be provided, and the foyer will be equipped with a disabled access toilet.

Figure 5.2 Sheffield ERF Reception


Visitor/Community Centre Key Features

The main floor of the Visitors Centre will comprise of the following key features:

• A conference room (on Level 4), shown in Figure 5.3 below; with

– Seating capacity for up to 40 visitors

– Computer terminal with projector and drop down screen

– A flat screen interactive panel which can be linked to the operations management system of the plant. This would allow visitors to view emissions and combustion characteristics from the Visitors Centre. Displays will also be linked to the Facility's CCTV cameras to allow the remote real time monitoring of keys sections of the treatment process from the meeting/visitor room;

– Sound amplification system (public address system) with induction coil system for hearing aids

– Adjacent kitchen for the provision of refreshments

– Cupboards and storage space for resource materials for school visits

– The size of the conference room is c. 139m².

• A meeting room for up to 20 people (on Level 5);

• Ladies and gentlemen’s toilet and hand washing facilities (including a disabled toilet) shown below (with further toilets available on level 3 and 5);

• Storage of visitors' personal protective equipment (PPE);

• A visitor route with displays along the walls; and

• An observation gallery giving visual access to the process equipment shown in both:

– Views on to the boiler hall (including the furnace area, superheaters, flue gas treatment systems)

– Views in to the control room

– Views in to the Waste reception bunker/tipping bays areas

– Views of the MPT process.


Figure 5.3 Visitor/ Community Centre Layout

Refer to “Appendix 4-12 Administrations Plans“ for a full administration layout and “Appendix 4-02 Visitors Centre Route” for a layout of the observation gallery.

Internal Building Elements

Interior Design

Fittings shall be selected to ensure they comply with relevant British and ISO standards and shall be selected to have a service life appropriate to their function with an appropriate strength for the application.

General

The Facility will meet with the requirements of BS 8300:2001, Part M of the Building Regulations and the Disabilities Discrimination Act 1995, and also the requirements from the Equality Act 2010.

The therapeutic, spatial and wayfinding qualities of colour will be incorporated into designs.

The Contractor will develop an interior design strategy to cover all areas of the Facility to be agreed by the Authority.

Finishes, colours, lighting and fittings, materials and signage will be agreed with the Authority.

Internal Walls

All internal walls will have an appropriate level of sound reduction in accordance with Good Industry Practice.

Internal walls will have a robust, durable finish.


Wherever possible buildings services pipes and cables will be concealed.

Internal Doors

All doors will have vision panels where appropriate.

All single door apertures will be wide enough for wheelchair access, in compliance with the requirements of the Disabilities Discrimination Act 1995. Equality Act 2010, BS 8300:2001 and Part M of the Building Regulations.

Door openers (and closers) with a time delay to ensure ease of access through the doorway for someone who uses a wheelchair will be fitted to any room or area that is designed to disability standard.

Any internal fire doors within the accommodation and fitted with a hold open device will be designed to disability standards and fitted with an automatic door closer, activated by and connected to the fire alarm system.

All doors will provide adequate sound reduction.

Rooms requiring doors with unobtrusive vision panels or hold open devices will be identified through the Review Procedure.

Stairs

Stairs will be designed to comply with the Building Regulations.

Stairs will have a handrail on both sides of the stairway to assist mobility.

Finishes - General

All finishes will provide adequate acoustic and noise reduction capabilities both vertically and horizontally.

Suitable colour schemes, textures and tonal contrasts will be provided, to assist people with perception difficulties or with visual or hearing impairments, which will meet the requirements and recommendations of BS 8300:2001 (Design of Buildings and their Approaches to Meeting the Needs of Disabled People).

Colour schemes for internal finishes will be agreed with the Authority from a menu developed by the Contractor.

Finishes will be robust, durable and easily cleaned.

Water based paints or paints with low volatile organic compounds (V.O.C.) will be used where practical.

Fire retardancy of all finishes will be in accordance with Legislation, Guidance and Good Industry Practice.


Where computers are installed, surface reflectance, surface colours, and brightness management will be co-ordinated to meet the requirements of the HSE (Health and Safety Executive) Display Screen Equipment Regulations 1992 or as amended.

Furniture, Fixtures and Fittings

The Contractor will provide furniture for the Visitors Centre. This will include a table in the centre of the room as well as side table for serving refreshments and can also be used to store the PPE equipment. Comfortable chairs will be provided and there will be enough to accommodate the 40 visitors as specified by the Authority. An example of the furniture that has previously been used can be seen in the images from the Alton MRF Conference Room (Figure 5.4).

Figure 5.4 Images of the Alton MRF Conference Room

Materials, Equipment and Displays

All educational visits to the Facility will be hosted by a member of the Facility Personnel, usually the Contractor's education and communications manager (Education and Communications Manager). The Education and Communications Manager and/or the administrator will be responsible for ensuring the visitors are


appropriately greeted within the building, that the visitors sign in and out of a visitors' record book, and that the visitors are made aware of the location of the welfare facilities and the building evacuation procedures.

Where visitor groups are attending a Waste educational tour or event, the Education and Communications Manager (or another technically qualified member of the Facility Personnel) will lead the tour, and be able to respond to questions posed by the visitors.

Where visitor groups are simply using the Visitors Centre conference room facilities for a non-waste related meeting, a member of the Facility Personnel will be available to attend to any issues or questions arising, but will not stay in the conference room, unless invited to do so.

The Contractor’s approach to displays will be principally using electronic media to provide an experience that should be expected from a 21st Century Waste management facility. This approach also allows for the displays to be easily and quickly changed reflecting advances in technology, operations and environmental focus and future requirements. Some additional information panels would also be displayed in the visitor centre or at the entrance of the site (see Attachments MS1 5.1, MS1 5.2 and MS1 5.3).

The Contactor will provide computer-based information on the construction and operation of the Facility, providing detailed insight in to the workings of the Facility and its operations.

The positioning of the windows in the visitor route (Figure 5.5 and “Appendix 4-02 Visitors Route Plan”) will form a viewing gallery which will allow groups to view directly the wider aspects of the process, and be able to put this in to context with the operations described on the computer screen. Quote bubbles (Figure 5.6) and information panels will be provided along the visitor route.


Figure 5.5 Designated Visitor Route

Figure 5.6 Examples of Quote Bubbles

The large flat-screen display will provide real-time plant processing information, including the processing rate of Waste, temperatures in the furnace, superheater steam temperatures and pressures, and electricity generation. It will also be capable of connection to a series of webcams around the Facility and the Site. These will provide more detailed views of inaccessible parts, or where it would not be safe to take visitors because of operations or the environment in which they take place.

The Contractor will also provide computer-based information on the “upstream” Waste management operations (including collection systems), other types of Waste management facilities, and the process outputs from the plant.

The Contractor will provide educational materials to link in with various expected visitor groups, and will update these materials as the visitor demographics evolve


throughout the Contract Period. This will include provision of reduce/reuse/recycle/recover Waste “games” for the education of school/college parties, in order to help young learners understand the implication of their choices in the disposal of Waste, and how this influences the Waste hierarchy and the environment. Educational materials are covered in more detail in Method Statement 6.6.

Welfare Facilities

The Visitors Centre will include a catering facility for the provision of hot and cold drinks for up to 40 persons.

The Visitors Centre will also contain an appropriate number of toilets, with at least one toilet facility that is suitable for use by a person with a disability. The Contractor will provide reasonable access to toilets and washing facility at the Visitors Centre for WCAs' drivers and for others accessing the Site. Such toilets and washing facilities shall, as a minimum, contain the following:

Tiled areas that are kept in a good condition and reasonably free from damage or conspicuous deterioration;

Toilet furniture that is kept in a good condition and reasonably free from damage or deterioration and which is fully functioning;

Reasonably intact seals and other waterproof joints that are reasonably free from staining or mould growth; and

Toilet cubicle partitioning (if applicable) which is kept in a good condition and reasonably free from damage or deterioration and on which all fittings, including locks and handles are functioning.

The Contractor will ensure the Visitors Centre has appropriate heating and ventilation to maintain a temperature between nineteen and twenty three degrees Celsius when visitors are in attendance.

The Contractor will ensure that water supplies fed from storage tanks (not designed for potable water provision) will be clearly labelled as “not drinking water” and will not be located in areas where unsupervised visitors have access.

Method of receiving Visitors and conducting Site tours during all phases of the Project

Section 1.5.2.1 describes the method or receiving visitors during the Services Period. The degree to which each visitor group has access to the Facility will depend on the interests of the group, the numbers and degree of supervision (in the case of school children) and will be subject to a risk assessment.


Communication with schools would be customised as shown in Attachment MS1 5.4.

All groups allowed access to the Facility will be allowed to access the Visitors Centre. Most groups, with adequate supervision will have access to the observation gallery following a reduced induction. Should certain groups require access to wider parts of the Facility e.g. to provide closer and more detailed viewing of the building and processing equipment then marked paths will be used to conduct the groups through the Facility. The Contractor anticipates relatively few visits from groups in the last category as we will have to provide more supervision to allow suitably sized groups to be conducted within the operating Facility. We would anticipate that these groups would only include adults with some familiarity with basic health and safety requirements of a process operation. For safety reasons we are unlikely to be able to accommodate certain kinds of disabled persons on tours within the processing areas however the observation gallery has been designed for disabled access.

During the Commissioning Period the method will remain the same. During the Works Period the visitor facilities will be provided in the Construction Sub-Contractor's site establishment until such time as the Visitors Centre is ready for use. Construction phase facilities are described below.

For continuous improvement, visitors will have the opportunity to provide some feedback at the end of each visit (see Attachment MS1 5.5).

Visitors During Construction

Provisions will be made to cater for visitors to attend the Site during the construction works. Car parking will be provided for twenty additional vehicles, and will be sited away from the main compound areas, and adjacent to the reception area in the Site offices.

On entering the construction site offices, all visitors must register at the reception by following the signing in procedure. All visitors will be inducted by a member of the Contractor’s site team. Any groups of visitors will have to book at a pre-arranged appointment time to ensure a member of the Contractor’s Site team is available to conduct the induction.

Within the Site offices, a meeting room will be available to cater for visitors. This will also act as an information room where details of the Project will be displayed, and photographs of the Works progress to date.

Visitors to enter the Site Works area will be accompanied at all times by a responsible member of the Contractor’s Site team. All pedestrians must keep to


the well maintained and signposted pedestrian routes, which will be physically segregated from vehicular routes and haul roads.

Suitable welfare facilities will be provided for visitors, as for office staff and Site personnel.

The orientation of the offices will be such that it will be possible to view out of the windows from the second level of Site offices, and overlook a part of the Site Works.

The following is a summary list of the provisions made for visitors and Site personnel, during the construction phase:

• Clearly visible and well signed access route to the Site offices from the main roads in the area

• A clearly displayed Site notice board at the Site entrance

• Adequate portacabin facilities for use as offices and meeting rooms, for the Contractor and visitors

• 1 meeting room complete with all furnishings suitable for 40 persons minimum for use by the Contractor, the Authority or Hertfordshire County Council.

• Connections to electricity network, water main, phone, fax, foul and surface water drainage network

• Secure portacabins for use as a visitor/conference room, kitchen and offices suitability partitioned and complete with all furnishings and connections to power, water, foul, phone

• First aid room, changing rooms, toilets and mess rooms

• Signposts to access the construction site

• Site lighting as necessary

• The Contractor will make Personnel available on a pre-arranged basis to host up to an average of one group visit per week.

• The Contractor will prepare and keep regularly update a presentation that will be available to show visitors to explain the construction and operation of the Facility. It will provide a basic explanation of the technology and contain photographs of significant aspects of the Facility at various stages of construction.


• The meeting room will be provided with a suitably sized LCD or similar screen which can be used to present photographs, drawings and presentations or DVD material to visiting groups.

• The meeting room will be provided with a connection to the Site IT network to allow access to drawings and records for presentation purposes.

• The meeting room will be available for the Contractor’s use when it is not booked for group visits.

• The Contractor will keep 40 sets of PPE for visitors as required by Site health and safety protocols but including at least, adjustable hard hats, high visibility waist coats, protective gloves, eye protection, protective wellington boots or similar in a reasonable variety of sizes to suit male and female visitors and disposable ear plugs. The PPE equipment will be maintained in a clean, useable state and replaced as necessary through the construction period.

Site Tours During Construction

During construction safe access to various areas of the Site will vary from week to week and even daily, therefore all tours will be subject to a risk assessment to determine which areas can be viewed.

The Site will have safe walkways marked out and these will be used for any tour groups provided they are not out of use due to construction activities.

All tour groups will have visitor induction training before they leave the Site offices for a Site tour.

MS1.5 Visitors Centre

Documents

Transcript of MS1.5 Visitors Centre