Telephone exchange extension
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Additional building to the original post-war exchange comprises a three-storey block and a twelve-storey tower following a T-shaped plan
The horizontal bar of the T is the low-rise brick structure block that runs back from a frontage of the Strand. The vertical stroke is the twelve-storey, 58 m high slab that juts forward toward the street.
Due to heavy floor loads, the apparatus floors are allocated on the eight lower floors. This layout concentrates the main work force at the top of the tower locating the offices, welfare and service spaces on the last three floors. Three concrete towers, with a ribbed external finish, rise above the high-rise block’s roofline to house the service cores.
The façade responds to wind conditions by the use of a double-skin system. The outer skin is composed out of clear and black armour-clad glass panels acting as a rain shield while the inner layer, with close-fitting vertical sashes, provides a seal for the control of the internal environment.
The equipment, installed in the apparatus rooms, determined the bay dimensions of the reinforced concrete frame.
Data
- Begun: May 1968
- Completed: Nov 1971
- Floor area: 1,320,539m2
- Sector: Office
- Total cost: £926,287
- Tender date: Feb 1968
- Procurement: Form CCC/ Wks/ 1 lump sum
- Address: Strand Row, Swansea, SA1 2AE, United Kingdom
Professional Team
- Architect: Alex Gordon & Partners
- Client: DOE Central Office for Wales
- Main contractor: Andrew Scott Ltd.
- Quantity surveyor: W. T. Hills & Co
- Structural engineer: Veryard & Partners
- M&E engineer: WS Atkins