Courier Building

The headquarters of DC Thomson, located in heart of Dundee’s’ city centre, underwent a full refurbishment with major alterations to the original 1906 Edwardian Courier building and the 1960’s 10 storey extension.

Location: Dundee
Client: DC Thomson & Co. Ltd
Cost: £13m
Completion: 2017

The refurbishment required development of Client brief to realise the full potential of the building and provide the Client with flexibility to reconfigure internal floor plates to suit the needs and demands of their business.

Blyth & Blyth were appointed as Building Services Consultant and worked within the design team to ensure that all the mechanical and electrical services could be accommodated within the constraints of an existing building over 100 years old, whilst being sympathetic to the Architect and Interior Designer’s aspirations and the Client’s expectation.

The M&E services comprised of;

  • New incoming electrical services including essential standby LV generation
  • All electrical services to support multi use spaces and occupiers
  • Heating and cooling
  • Water services including rainwater harvesting
  • Lighting & Specialist Lighting
  • Flexible small power distribution
  • Ventilation systems

Renewable systems were also incorporated as far as was practically possible and included the installation of Air Source Heat Pumps and an extensive PV panel installation.

Key challenges

As expected, when working within the constraints of an existing building, there were multiple challenges which the design team had to overcome.

Limited plant space was a significant challenge and took a considerable amount of thought and planning to accommodate the necessary plant and equipment, specifically the air handling plant and VRF Condenser farms, on the only available roof space for the entire building. Distribution, internally within the building also proved to be challenging with very limited floor to ceiling heights.

The project was also subjected to the additional challenges of having to appoint a new Main Contractor early on in the Construction phase, due to the originally appointed Main Contractor unfortunately going into administration.

Results

Despite all the challenges of the project, the transformation from pre to post refurbishment is remarkable. The building is now fully populated with over 600 staff members, including the Director’s, who are located on the 5th Floor with stunning views of the River Tay.

The Design and Construction team have strived to produce a building that fulfils all the Clients wants and needs and a building they can be proud of.