Budimex completes the alteration of the key stage of the IHE building at the Warsaw University of Technology

The largest Polish general contractor has completed a key stage in the alteration and expansion of the Institute of Heat Engineering at the Faculty of Power and Aeronautical Engineering of the Warsaw University of Technology. The renovation involved in the project covered three building wings: B, C, and D, with the courtyard and a fire access road. Budimex submitted the project to the Budowa Roku 2022 awards (Construction Project of the Year). The awards are held each year by PZITB (Polish Society of Construction Designers and Engineers), joined by the Polish Ministry of Construction and the Chief Office of Construction Supervision.

The project implemented by Budimex included alteration of two building wings (B and C) at the Warsaw University of Technology, with the courtyard and a fire access road. Work is currently under way in Building D. The renovation involved was supervised by a conservation office. The net value of the contract amounts to PLN 69.1 million. The project was funded by the Warsaw University of Technology and the Ministry of Education.

The eastern wing, Building C, was repurposed for teaching and research primarily by the following units:

• Division of Refrigeration and Energy in Buildings
• Division of Aircraft Engines
• Division of Thermodynamics
• Division of Rational Use of Energy.

The alterations to building wing C were to provide optimum functional separation, complement the premises, and provide a clear indoor circulation system. This required partitioning to provide new rooms, and the construction of two staircases and a new hallway. The previously empty space in the centre of the building saw new separating floors installed for the circulation ways. On the ground floor level, the rooms were extended with a hallway along the eastern side of the building. Due to the significant modifications, the project required the removal of existing load-bearing walls and installation of an extra structure to support the new separating floor elements.

Building wing D, to be completed by the middle of December 2023, will house:

• laboratories of the Division of Power Engineering
• laboratories of the Department of Rational Use of Energy
• single laboratory units of the Division of Refrigeration and Energy in Buildings and the Division of Thermodynamics
• workshop with staff facilities and a cloakroom
• teaching rooms
• exhibition areas.

The organisation of the internal space functions requires extensive modification inside building wing D. The existing walls need to be removed, along with a poorly functional staircase in the southern part of the wing. It will be replaced by a planned staircase, complete with a passenger lift. Another second vertical circulation hub is planned to be built on the interior of the eastern side of the building. Some of the existing machines will be removed to provide space for new partitions and a functional layout. In the centre of the building, new separating floors are planned to be built to connect the storeys in the northern and southern parts of the wing, while providing an open, two-storey tall space for displaying the unit of genuine components for a miniature demonstration power plant. The planned indoor circulation solution includes access to the two-storey open space to showcase a Laval turbine with a gantry crane, to create a ‘teaching course’, leading through a series of rooms in the building, which will house old machinery.

The 1st scope of the project work saw the completion of alterations to building wing C and extension with a sheltered courtyard and a bypass corridor around the existing lecture hall, TC-1, on the 1st floor. The basic scope of work did not include the cooling tower in the centre of the yard and the alteration of the defunct gatehouse, apart from the necessary modification to its roof. The 2nd scope of the project work includes the interior of a single-storey structure at the end of the courtyard canopy; the structure will continue to house the Laboratory of Ionising Radiation Testing Operated by the Division of Power Engineering.

The extension was dictated by the canopy of the existing courtyard between building wing C and D and the lecture hall in wing B, with more functions added to the courtyard. The area is to be connected to the existing front wing of the building, providing passageway on the 1st storey on both sides of the lecture hall, which will require the building of a new storey.

Budimex submitted the alterations to the WUT’s IHE building to the national construction awards, Budowa Roku 2022 (Construction Project of the Year). The awards have been held annually since 1989 to help promote the construction industry in general. With its extensive legacy, Budowa Roku has become one of the most prestigious awards in Polish civil engineering. The general contractor has been closely partnering with WUT and its students, providing them with traineeship opportunities during its construction projects. To date, 25 students of Warsaw University of Technology have taken up traineeships with Budimex.