DARD Building, Cookstown

A BIM Pilot Scheme for the Rivers Agency
The new DARD Rivers Agency HQ office building was completed under a NEC Option A, Design & Build contract, with QMAC Construction taking the completed exemplar design through to detailed design and final construction on site.
The building sits on a wooded elevated site within CAFRE, (College of Agriculture, Food & Rural Enterprise), Loughry College Campus in Cookstown, Co.Tyrone.
Accommodation for 85 staff is provided over 2 floors of open plan offices together with ancillary accommodation and car parking.
The building expresses a simple agricultural building typology with modern touches, such as a clear glazed end to benefit from the impressive views out over the campus.  The 2 storey building utilises the sloping site to extend out over a ‘stone plinth’ which accomdates the building plant at the SW end.
The project was one of a number of BIM Pilot Schemes taken forward by CPD who are leading on the implementation of BIM in Northern Ireland.
BIM (Building Information Modelling) provided a framework for working collaboratively with other construction professions and client/end-user bodies.  This is an area that RPP are committed to achieving excellence in and valuable BIM experience was gained from working on this project.