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Snowdon Summit

4th March 2013

EvadX were proud to have been chosen as the main steelwork contractor for the new Summit Building on Mount Snowdon. This innovative visitor’s centre will provide opportunities to learn more about Snowdon, whilst also facilitating weather information, advice on descent routes, washrooms and naturally provision of refreshments and shelter.

Andrew Roberts, Drawing Office Manager at EvadX was the project manager behind the development of this £9 million visitor centre. Andrew confirmed that even more so than usual, the collaboration between Engineer, Architect and Main Contractor, Carillion became vital to the success of the project. StruCad and StruM.I.S .NET play a vital role in this project management workflow and are integral to operations at EvadX. Andrew states he was proud to have worked on the centre and said: “you only get to work on maybe one of these in your lifetime, at around 3,560ft tall it must be one of the highest Projects in the country.”

Modelled and detailed on StruCad, each phase of the project was subsequently fabricated by EvadX with the aid of StruM.I.S .NET. Material stock, procurement and all unique project requirements are simultaneously controlled by the StruM.I.S .NET system – with all Projects monitored and fabricated using specific EvadX routing and benefiting from best practice work flow delivered by the system. With functionality from estimating through contract and budget control during fabrication, combined with visual production tracking and scheduling, StruM.I.S .NET provided all members of the project with vital up to date information. With completion due at the highest point in England and Wales – that attracts +100mph winds and temperatures of minus 20C,  the fabrication,  scheduling and erection process of the this project was always mission critical and the StruM.I.S .NET system ensured that the project progressed accurately, without error and with maximum efficiency.

After fabrication and transportation to site the project was erected by the EvadX team after it was painstakingly lifted piece-by-piece up the mountainside on a tiny railway via a small locomotive. This train journey alone from the foot of the mountain to the summit took four hours by the time the train had been loaded up, made its way to the top, unloaded and returned to the base. As a consequence of this unconventional journey all the parts of the steel structure had to be precisely numbered and distributed in numerical order so that they would reach the summit in the correct order; ready for unloading and construction. Andrew commented that if the parts had been sent up in the wrong order the team could have been significantly set back by at least four hours.

Whilst there could have feasibly been many issues connected with construction of this unique project, it was the unusually bad weather which made the job even more difficult, as Andrew explained; “the weather conditions were terrible and winds reached 70mph at the summit and a couple of times the train couldn’t get to the workers and they had to walk down the mountain to reach a safe area to be collected”.

We were all delighted that the team managed to finish the construction and erection of the framework on time and sheer determination and hard work were the order of the day.

StruCad and StruM.I.S .NET play a vital role in our project management workflow and are integral to operations at EvadX Ltd. Direct links through the StruM.I.S .NET management information and fabrication system streamline the Evadx fabrication process from start to finish and provide seamless interaction between departments, suppliers and clients. With StruCad and StruM.I.S .NET we have the complete fabrication information modelling system.

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