Osborne stays on board for £38m Greenwich Uni main build

16 Aug 12 Osborne has been selected for a £38m building project for the University of Greenwich.

The project includes creating a new campus library and facilities for teaching and research in architecture, design, construction at Stockwell Street, just off Greenwich Park in London.

The contractor will construct a four-storey, 15,500sq m building for the University. It will include a library, lecture theatres, seminar spaces and digital studios as well as TV production studios, editing suites, a model-making workshop and animation studios. A gallery, cafe and retail space will be open to the community at ground floor level.

The project is within the Maritime Greenwich UNESCO World Heritage Site and will transform a spot previously housed by an office block and an out-of-use petrol station.

The scheme has been designed to achieve a BREEAM Excellent rating. The new building will be topped with tiered flat roofs to form gardens. The concrete frame building structure beneath will feature a single-storey basement with contiguous piling.

Osborne was originally appointed to provide construction advice, supporting the development of the design within budget and carried out enabling works and an archaeological investigation to the value of £4m. Construction of the new £38m building is due to be complete in early 2014.

Peter Fotheringham, head of estates at the University of Greenwich, said: “This has been a challenging design process due to the planning restrictions and complexity of a site that sits within the Greenwich World Heritage Site. The early involvement of the Osborne team helped to establish methods of construction and the logistics of the site at an early stage and has been key to maintaining our programme throughout design development.

“The building is very important to the University, setting a benchmark for our future aspirations and providing a learning environment that will challenge and stimulate our students. Working closely with Osborne and the design team we believe we will meet these expectations through a continuing collaborative effort.”

John Craig, business unit leader of Osborne’s education team, added: “Working in a true partnership with the university we have a real opportunity - not only to create a sustainable, landmark building, but also to create an inspirational environment and allows the students real-time, first-hand experience of the design and construction process.”