Space centre over the moon with cast iron drainage

The futuristic meets the traditional at the UK's first ever visitor attraction devoted to space. The National Space Science Centre in Leicester which was officially opened by ex-NASA astronaut Dr Jeff Hoffman earlier this year, uses cast iron drainage installations throughout.

The National Space Science Centre, Leicester. This illustration is available as a digital image. Please contact Ravinder Kumar if you would like a copy.

The design of this out-of-this-world centre was awarded to Nicholas Grimshaw and Partners of London, after a competitive process involving five firms in 1996. Developers of the prestigious project specified materials that had minimal impact on the environment, provided low maintenance and lasted the life of the building.

For this reason, cast iron was chosen for the £200,000 drainage installation at the centre. Cast iron systems have been specified and installed in prestigious buildings across the UK and Europe and all over the world. Cast iron's traditional benefits - its superior strength, fire resistance and long life - are now complemented by modern cast iron's advantages of lighter weight, clean handling and quick, easy installation. It is being built on a 14.5-acre brownfield site on Exploration Drive in the Abbey Meadows area, a mile north of Leicester City centre.

The Space Centre, a Landmark Millennium Project supported by lottery funds of £26 million from the Millennium Commission, with the same amount match-funded by various sources, is a project of national and international significance and is the only Landmark project in the East Midlands region.

The site previously housed the Abbey Tanks, a sewage treatment works, and was donated to the Space Centre project by Severn Trent Water. A council tip was also formerly operational on part of the Space Centre site. This was relocated before construction works commenced.

As well as several visitor zones and a state-of-the-art, multimedia, theatre using the latest audio-visual technology, the centre will include a research centre run by astrophysicists from the University of Leicester.

A spokesman for the Cast Iron Drainage Development Authority said he was delighted that cast iron had been chosen for such a prestigious and forward-looking project.

"Cast iron has been demonstrated to be the most environmentally sound drainage material in terms of its manufacture, its use and its recyclability. It is also well known for its longevity compared to other materials.

"As well as these important factors, the theatre area of the building will get the benefit of low ambient noise associated with cast iron drainage systems," he said.