CAE Flight Simulator Centre

This high tech sustainable facility in Burgess Hill houses the flight simulators on which pilots are trained. The simulators are in operation almost 24 hours 7 days per week, so a naturally ventilated lightweight solar-shaded building was designed to efficiently dissipate the heat from the simulators whilst minimising the energy input. An efficient design team performance allowed the construction programme to be very short, 16 weeks from starting design to start on site.

There are 2 heavily serviced halls each of which houses 4 simulators. Large bases to support the forces from simulators were critical given the sensitive nature of the equipment. Sandwiched between the two halls is the spine of the building which comprises the office and CPU rooms for the simulators. Steelwork was the preferred solution given the hall size and the anticipated schedule. To offset the amount of surface water run off from the roofs, SUDS principles were applied and an attenuation pond was adopted to deal with heavy storms.