We use cookies to personalize and improve your experience on our site. Visit our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy to learn more. You can opt out of some cookies by adjusting your browser settings. More information on how to do this can be found in the cookie policy. By using our site, you agree to our use of cookies.

Cummins Engine Company Factory

Bennetts Associates, Ramsgate, 1998

 

Subscribe now to instantly view this image

Subscribe to the Architects’ Journal (AJ) for instant access to the AJ Buildings Library, an online database of nearly 2,000 exemplar buildings in photographs, plans, elevations and details.

Already a subscriber? Sign in

Roof vents both ventilate smoke and allow warm air to escape in summer 

Peter Cook/View (website)     Download Original

  • Roof vents both ventilate smoke and allow warm air to escape in summer    
  • The two-storey office stack disguises the mass of the building beyond    
  • The screen which separates factory and offices cuts through the building and extends on both sides    
  • Factory exterior at night    
  • Factory interior    
  • Factory interior    
  • Screen between factory and offices    
  • View from the goods-in canopy with newly delivered generator    
  • The two-storey office stack disguises the mass of the building beyond    
  • Tree-like columns with cantilever arms support the roof    
  • Site plan    
  • Level one plan    
  • East-west section    
  • North-south section    
  • Section showing natural ventilation by low-level vents    
  • Detail section through wall and structure    
  • Key section and roof structure    
  • Detail of column edge    

Manufacturing facility with high levels of flexibility and close integration between management offices and production areas

Heavy engineering plant for assembly of diesel and natural gas generator sets with high levels of flexibility and close integration between management offices and production areas

The office component, which also houses a staff restaurant, sits on the higher, front portion of the site on entry. Behind it, on a reduced level, but under the same roof, is a large production facility of 12,000m2.

The lower service areas are screened by this change in levels. The 3,000m2 office component rises to three storeys. As the manufacturing space is situated under the same triple barrel vaulted roof, the volume in which the production space sits can be clearly envisaged.

The factory itself is relatively square: 96.4m wide x 104m long. Material enters near the front of the factory's side elevations, to enter the production lines, which are laid out perpendicular to the office zone. At the rear of the factory are the specialist testing cells from where the generators leave the building after the testing process.

Data

  • Begun: 1996
  • Completed: 1998
  • Floor area: 12,000m2
  • Sector: Industrial
  • Total cost: £7.7M
  • Address: Columbus Avenue, Ramsgate, CT12 5BF, United Kingdom

Materials

Steel structure

Professional Team

Suppliers