This building was conceptually produced by the Butterworth team of professionals and presented to Planning in 1987. The Client brief called for a contemporary building with classic proportions, a design concept that would not date and a move away from ponderously detailed civic sized architecture. The building was to house the Bank’s financial services, its investment division plus the electrical and back-up facilities for the Bank’s entire suite of buildings in Hamilton. Its design was required to cater for a very high level of current technology and accommodate future change in this fast developing aspect of building services (which it does to this day). In addition to being handsome, the brief called for a structural integrity sufficient to withstand 160 mph wind loads and be capable of being entirely self-sufficient from external utilities for many days.
The Butterworth Team produced all contract documentation and maintained control of all engineering aspects of the project. All members of the team of consultants that were assembled for this are still used by the practice today. It is worth noting that the building exterior walls were all prefabricated in the UK and shipped to Bermuda ready glazed. The principal material used was cast, stone faced, glass fibre reinforced concrete (GFRC). There is no steel reinforcement of any of these panels. The building fabric is still in exceptional condition as it concentrated on traditional detailing of the facades to cast off rainwater and avoid staining. The chosen materials were prefabricated in the UK, fully pre-glazed, tested and shipped to Bermuda. The cast panels were 60% lighter than traditional pre-cast concrete. All joints between panels are precisely the same (specified) size and only one panel was damaged during construction. The Building is also a credit to the contractors for whom this was a first venture in pre-cast construction with tight tolerances.
Contract administration followed with a strict overview to limit unwarranted extra expenditure during construction. The construction documentation and administration were sufficiently good to allow us to report to our client that the project was completed for roughly 1/2% over the original contract price.
Our team continued the process through an extensive interior design program whereby the client’s changing needs were identified by extensive research and interviews. Cooperation with the client’s own in-house facilities organisation brought the complex task of equipping and furnishing the new building into the same tight budgetary constraints.
The entire project was completed on time, without cost escalation.
We are particularly pleased with Compass Point.
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