As with every project, the Solinear team is extremely proud of what they accomplish. A successful combination of diligence, determination, creativity, expertise and teamwork has resulted in Solinear’s products and services being greatly sought after for some of the country’s most prestigious and iconic projects. The First Light Pavilion at Jodrell Bank being one of them and Solinear was proud to have played a part in this extraordinary project.
A brief history of Jodrell Bank
Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire was established in 1945 and encompasses several radio telescopes as part of the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics at the University of Manchester. Bernard Lovell, a radio astronomer at the university, set up the observatory to investigate cosmic rays after his work on radar in the Second World War.
Over the years it has played a vital role in the research of meteoroids, quasars, pulsars, masers and gravitational lenses, and was closely involved in tracking space probes as the Space Age commenced.
Jodrell Bank’s primary function is investigating radio waves from planets and stars and the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, of which the observatory is a part, is one of the largest astrophysics research groups in the UK.
When constructed in 1957, the observatory’s “Mark I” telescope was the world’s largest steerable dish radio telescope at 76.2 metres (250 ft) in diameter. It is now the third-largest, has since been renamed the Lovell Telescope, in dedication to Bernard Lovell, and is the observatory’s primary telescope.
A path circling the Lovell telescope is approximately 20 m from the telescope’s outer railway, information boards explain how the telescope works and the research that is done with it.
There are three further active telescopes at the observatory; the Mark II, plus 42 ft (13 m) and 7 m diameter radio telescopes.
In 2011, Jodrell Bank was named as the location of the control centre for the Square Kilometre Array, or SKA Project Office (SPO). The SKA is a collaboration of 20 countries and will be the most powerful radio telescope ever built. In 2015 it was announced that Jodrell Bank would be the permanent home of the SKA headquarters for the period of operation expected for the telescope (50+ years).
Jodrell Bank’s mounting popularity
As interest in Jodrell Bank increased, a visitors’ centre opened in 1971 covering the history of Jodrell Bank and featured a planetarium and 3D theatre hosting simulated trips to Mars. However, asbestos in the visitors’ centre buildings resulted in demolition in 2003 leaving only a remnant of the original structure. A temporary marquee was set up in its grounds while a new science centre was planned but plans were shelved when Victoria University of Manchester and UMIST merged to become the University of Manchester in 2004, leaving the interim centre.
In late 2010, work on a new visitor centre began and the Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre opened the following year. It includes an entrance building, the Planet Pavilion, a Space Pavilion for exhibitions and events and a glass-walled cafe with a view of the Lovell Telescope. It also provides an outside dining area, an education space, and landscaped gardens including the Galaxy Maze. In 2013 a large orrery was installed on the site.
The 35-acre (140,000 m2) arboretum, established in 1972, houses the UK’s national collections of crab apple Malus and mountain ash Sorbus species, and the Heather Society’s Calluna collection. The arboretum also has a small-scale model of the Solar System (approx. scale 1:5,000,000,000). As part of the SpacedOut project, Jodrell Bank displays the Sun in a 1:15,000,000 scale model of the Solar System covering Britain.
World Heritage Status
Since 1988 the observatory’s primary telescope, the Lovell Telescope, has been designated a Grade I listed building and on 10th July 2017 the Mark II Telescope was also awarded Grade I listing. On the same date five additional buildings on the site were designated Grade II; namely the Searchlight Telescope, the Control Building, the Park Royal Building, the Electrical Workshop, and the Link Hut.
Grade I is the highest of the three grades of listing and is applied to buildings that are of ‘exceptional interest and sometimes considered to be internationally important’. Grade II, the lowest grade, is applied to buildings ‘nationally important and of special interest’.
In July 2010, it was revealed that the observatory was being considered for the 2011 United Kingdom Tentative List for World Heritage Site status. The following year it was announced that it was on the UK government’s shortlist.
In 2018, Jodrell Bank Observatory became the UK’s candidate for World Heritage status and at the 43rd session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in 2019, the Jodrell Bank Observatory was adopted as a World Heritage Site based on 4 criteria:
- Criterion (i): Jodrell Bank Observatory is a masterpiece of human creative genius related to its scientific and technical achievements.
- Criterion (ii): Jodrell Bank Observatory represents an important interchange of human values over a span of time and on a global scale on developments.
- Criterion (iv): Jodrell Bank Observatory represents an outstanding example of a technological ensemble which illustrates a significant stage in human history.
- Criterion (vi): Jodrell Bank Observatory is directly and tangibly associated with events and ideas of outstanding universal significance.
Jodrell Bank’s starring roles
Jodrell Bank has also functioned as a music venue and in July 2011 the visitor centre and observatory hosted ‘Jodrell Bank Live’ – a rock concert with a line-up including The Flaming Lips, British Sea Power, Wave Machines, OK GO and Alice Gold. The following year, Elbow performed live at the observatory and filmed a documentary of the event and the facility which was subsequently released on CD/DVD.
In 2013, Jodrell Bank hosted a concert performed by the Halle Orchestra to commemorate what would have been Lovell’s 100th birthday. As well as several operatic performances during the day, the evening Halle performance featured themes from Star Trek, Star Wars and Doctor Who among others. The main Lovell telescope was rotated to face the onlooking crowd and used as an enormous projection screen showing various animated planetary effects. During the interval the ‘screen’ was used to show a history of Lovell’s work and Jodrell Bank.
Since 2016, the observatory has hosted Bluedot, a music and science festival, featuring acts such as Björk, Public Service Broadcasting, The Chemical Brothers, as well as talks by scientists and scientific communicators such as Jim Al-Khalili and Richard Dawkins.
Jodrell Bank has an astronomy podcast from the observatory, named The Jodcast and the BBC television programme Stargazing Live is hosted in the control room of the observatory.
Jodrell Bank is so iconic that it has been mentioned in several works of popular fiction, including Doctor Who (The Tenth Planet, Remembrance of the Daleks, “The Poison Sky”, “The Eleventh Hour”, “Spyfall”) and “Birthday Boy” by David Baddiel. It was intended to be a filming location for Logopolis (Tom Baker’s final Doctor Who serial) however budget restrictions prevented this and another location with a superimposed model of a radio telescope was used instead. It has also been mentioned in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (as well as The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy film), The Creeping Terror and Meteor. Jodrell Bank was also extensively featured in the 1983 music video Secret Messages by Electric Light Orchestra and Are We Ourselves by The Fixx. Prefab Sprout’s ‘Technique’ opens with the line “Her husband works at Jodrell Bank/He’s home late in the morning”.
The observatory is the site of several episodes in the novel Boneland, by Alan Garner (2012), and the protagonist, Colin Whisterfield, is an astrophysicist on its staff.
The First Light Project at Jodrell Bank
Building the Pavilion
After years of planning and funding secured, the First Light Project was given the green light and in December 2019 building of the innovative new Pavilion in the Discovery Centre gardens began – a hugely exciting undertaking with a number of unique engineering elements.
Designed by respected architects at HASSELL Studio, a great deal of inspiration for the build was sought from other constructions that people created over millennia including Newgrange in Ireland, Stonehenge, in Wiltshire, Maeshow, in Orkney and Chankillo, in Peru. Creations that express our relationship to the sky with the idea of a solar Meridian line, where the midday sun shines through an aperture in a building and aligns with markings inside whether it be on the floor or a wall. It was decided that the architects would work in the earlier tradition of aligning the whole structure of the building with the sky.
The dome structure, when finished would feature a number of visually striking cutaways including an incredible curved vertical concrete wall in the front façade entranceway, reflecting the arc of the sun. Centred in the wall, facing due south, a narrow vertical window running the height of the structure, aligned (after some careful calculations) so that the midday sun on midsummer’s day streams through the window (weather permitting) illuminating a meridian line cast onto the floor at the entrance, echoing a history of astronomy in architecture.
The technically challenging concrete dome roof structure – a major unique element of the build – would be a much-anticipated feature of the whole project and a key milestone in the new development of the First Light Project.
However, it wasn’t just the technical aspects of the project that would prove to be a challenge – at the beginning of 2020 and just as construction commenced, the Coronavirus pandemic meant uncertainty, delays and restrictions which main-contractors, sub-contractors and site workers needed to overcome as strict, ever-changing guidelines had to be adhered to.
Assisted by 59 covid-compliant operatives on site, in October 2020 a major construction milestone had been reached as the Pavilion saw its extraordinary concrete dome roof installed. Built by well-regarded multi-disciplinary construction company, Kier, the work of constructing such a uniquely designed building presented Kier with a number of technical challenges, not least creating the largest reinforced concrete dome in Europe. The installation was a unique achievement of construction and engineering expertise as 381m3 of concrete was poured into a mould spanning 50m to create the single structure domed roof. The continuous concrete pour was the first of its kind in over 25 years and took just over 10 hours to complete.
As Jodrell Bank has a long history of sustainability, the intention throughout the design and build process was for it to be a considerate construction – being as energy efficient as possible and sympathetic to the natural surroundings. The dome was designed with many ecologically sustainable features and sustainable practices have always been at the forefront of the project. Care has been taken to protect and respect the environment throughout the building process, underlined by the following:
- A site materials management plan including waste segregation, re-use and recycling
- Saving, storing and re-using excavation material in the building works to avoid disposal and transport off-site
- Ecology protection including tree protection, the installation of bird and bat boxes and use of scarecrows to keep nesting away from construction areas
- Using a local supply of ethically sourced topsoil
- Monitored and minimised use of natural resources and carbon footprint reporting and off-setting
- Rainwater harvesting from the site cabins for boot and tool washing
- Donation of redundant pallets and other materials for re-use
When construction was complete the dome would be buried beneath soil and seeds sewn creating a carpet of lush grass to blend into the landscape whilst also allowing access to visitors.
The result is a stunning vision crowned with a green roof to give the appearance of a circular ‘hill’, blending beautifully into the surrounding countryside including trees and landscaping created in the 1970s by Sir Bernard (who was a keen ‘tree person’). The dome cleverly mirrors the 76.2 metres (250 ft) diameter of the dish of the Lovell Telescope itself meaning that visitors will get a real sense of the size of the Telescope (which can be difficult to appreciate, when set apart in its own compound, or seen from hills and at distance).
Completion of the construction phase marked a major milestone in the project and in late 2021 First Light Pavilion achieved double success at the North West Regional Construction Awards receiving the prestigious Innovation Award alongside a Project of the Year Award.
A bright future with The First Light Project
As part of a redevelopment plan, The First Light Project has been created to preserve and restore the unique heritage of Jodrell Bank. This includes a magnificent new interpretation space in which visitors can engage with and learn about the site’s incredible stories, amazing feats of post-war engineering, and the creation of the monumental Lovell telescope – bringing the stories to life for everyone from the most dedicated intergalactic enthusiasts to the more casual stargazers
The new building houses an exhibition and immersive 130 seat auditorium dedicated to telling the stories of Jodrell Bank. A new gallery innovatively re-uses sections of the original 1957 observation dish from the Lovell Telescope as a backdrop for displays and projections – covering periods in the site’s rich history from early beginnings, through the Space Race and the Cold War, to present day. Meanwhile, an auditorium will provide space for planetarium shows, evening lectures, film projections and cultural events.
This impressive new venture, for the first time, enables visitor engagement with the unique turning point that occurred upon the emergence of radio astronomy and the dawn of the Space Age alongside the role of Jodrell Bank and UK scientists during that scientific and cultural revolution.
The Discovery Centre has been transformed into a first-class attraction which will recognise Jodrell Bank’s world-leading position in the history of astronomy – sharing the stories of its scientists and engineers and the pioneering science that has taken place there for 70+ years. It will also serve to protect and conserve the physical elements of Jodrell Bank’s heritage for generations to come.
The project’s aim is to inspire people of all ages, highlighting the emergence of the new science of radio astronomy whilst also revealing the plucky stories of strength, fortitude, collaboration and the enterprising spirit that brought it into being.
The First Light Project intends to create new employment opportunities, boost visitor numbers, establish a new volunteer programme and features the following central elements:
- The First Light Pavilion is the focus of the project. The extraordinary new facilities house education areas, an exhibition gallery and a projection space as well as a new cafe located within the gardens at Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre.
- Initiate a heritage themed engagement programme presenting Jodrell Bank’s important and unique scientific and cultural heritage to wider audiences.
- Develop a gallery-based schools programme which offers special events and activities and delivers workshops and outreach sessions.
- Launch an online portal of archive material which will be easily accessible to the public.
- Preserve and restore heritage embodied on the south aspect of the site, and which is as the heart of the case for World Heritage Site inscription.
With these core components in mind, the Jodrell Bank team have planned and prepared a future programme of heritage engagement, fascinating tours of the south side and planetarium sessions plus on-gallery activities. The Discovery Centre continues sharing the special nature of Jodrell Bank to inspire the scientists of the future.
Solinear at First Light Pavilion
Many of the team had already heard of Jodrell Bank in Cheshire – the world-renowned home to the Lovell Telescope, one of the planet’s largest, most powerful deep space exploring radio telescopes– when Solinear was approached by Kier Construction to work with them on a revolutionary new project.
Whilst architect studio, Hassell, worked with the University of Manchester through Stages 1-3 of the development, J M Architects and Kier Construction saw the building through Stage 4-Completion, co-ordinating with sub-contractors and consultants.
Quite apart from the distinction of working once again with one of the UK’s leading multi-disciplinary construction companies and long-term collaborator, Kier, as well as one of the UK’s foremost architectural practices, there was the added prestige of working as part of a much larger development at the famous Jodrell Bank.
The First Light Pavilion project was an irresistible prospect with its striking, organic architecture and bold sumptuous curves – this project would prove to be one of Solinear’s most iconic…
Click here to read more about Solinear’s work on the First Light Pavilion at Jodrell Bank.
