Modular bedrooms for footie students

Caledonian says that the 10-storey building represents a showcase what is possible using its modular building system.

The majority of the 678 bedrooms have now been manufactured by Caledonian at its 40-acre site in Newark, Nottinghamshire. The bedrooms are 96% complete before shipping to site.

University Campus of Football Business is a college of Bucks New University that offers degrees in football. Its First Way Campus, close to Wembley Stadium, will include a mix of purpose-built student accommodation as well as academic, office and outdoor space. Developer Cole Waterhouse brokered a deal with student accommodation provider Unite Students.  Caledonian has incorporated the Unite requirements into the design to provide a higher standard student living experience than is traditionally expected.

Main contractor on the project is Bowmer & Kirkland.

Caledonian was selected because the company demonstrated how its modular building system would help meet project deadlines, which required handover by July 2020 in time for Euro 2020.

Fire compliance capabilities of the Caledonian modular system also featured highly in the selection process, due to the high rise nature of the 10-storey development. Caledonian provided the client and design team with confidence, post-Grenfell, providing a pre-engineered fire compliant modular solution suitable for a development of this scale.

Cole Waterhouse chief executive Damian Flood said: “We liked the modular building solution proposed by Bowmer & Kirkland and its supply partner Caledonian for First Way Campus because it was a practical way of meeting the strict schedule. We are providing Wembley and the UCFB students with a fantastic campus that will include a number of facilities for students including purpose built accommodation (678 beds), seminar rooms and staff office spaces as well as amenities such as a café style restaurant, a gym and library/IT suite.”

Caledonian Modular chief executive Paul Lang said: “Our ability to deliver to a strict schedule and have an existing fire compliant solution made a compelling proposition for First Way Campus. The development rises to 10 storeys and that really shows what is possible with our modular building solution.”

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