Architectural Photography at the Dalton Nuclear Institute, Cumbria

I have recently been to Cumbria to photograph the Dalton Nuclear Institute in Cumbria. The Institute is located on the Westlakes Science and Technology park in Moor Row, Cumbria. The project was commissioned in 2009 and is the result of a joint venture between Manchester University and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. It was designed by Wilson Mason Architects and completed in 2011 with a project value of £5.4m. The building comprises two linked units, the main two storey building with the black metal finish houses labs and research facilities and the single storey building houses the Ion Accelerator.

This commission was the first real job for the Nikon D800. This has been my back up camera for the last 6 months but was pressed in to service when the D700 had to go for repair. The extra couple of stops of dynamic range that the D800 produces at ISO 100 were really useful when capturing black metal cladding against a sky with the occasional bright white cloud.