Sheffield Hallam University has appointed three partner suppliers to form the Hallam Alliance, billed as the first-of-its-kind initiative in the UK for a university building programme.
The Hallam Alliance comprises: the university, as client; BDP as design consultant (with Arup as sub-consultant); BAM as construction contractor; and CBRE for facilities management.
The alliance is run by a cooperative boards that require unanimous agreement, making decisions on issues on a ‘best for project’ basis.
The initial project for the alliance will be the first phase of the university’s campus plan – with work due to start this month on renovations to the atrium of its Owen Building. Partner firms will collaborate on all stages of design, construction and operation. Mace and Fulcrum are providing scheme and programme management services.
The partnership, an early adopter of the new NEC4 alliance contract, will share all profits and losses so that the incentives to work efficiently are aligned from the outset and throughout the delivery of the schemes.
Sheffield Hallam University has a 20-year development plan for its campus, with £220m earmarked for the next five years.
Daniel Ladbury, director of estates and facilities at Sheffield Hallam University, said: “The agreement of the alliance contract marks the culmination of over two years of hard work the university has led on to challenge the industry to deliver better buildings. The Hallam Alliance provides a unique opportunity as we look to the future in these challenging times to create a high performing and efficient estate that provides fantastic places for students, staff and visitors to learn, collaborate, and innovate whilst enabling us to continually learn and improve.”
He continued: “The university has ambitious goals for its campus developments as they support the delivery of our Transforming Lives strategy. To support this, the Hallam Alliance approach will not only enable the transformation of our estate, it will also transform how we deliver and manage our estate and our vision to drive industry change whilst driving efficiency and best practice.
“The Hallam Alliance provides a unique opportunity to bring academia, professional services and industry together to solve the current and future challenges currently facing universities, the commercial sector and the construction industry and we look forward to realising a new benchmark for successful developments over the coming years.”
Paul Cleminson, construction director at BAM, said: “This new approach will make it easier to deliver the high quality, affordable and sustainable buildings that we all want. That’s why the Hallam Alliance will be a beacon for improvement for the region and the entire industry.
“This new type of framework means the clients, designers, construction contractors and FM providers all have the same goals and objectives, with benefits such as transparent open book costs approach, and improved risk management. This builds mutual trust which will then the drive efficiencies, standardisation and continuous improvement that we are all seeking.”
CBRE director Daniel Vaughan said: “Having FM services involved from the outset provides the opportunity for operational and user needs to shape design and construction helping to ensure smoother handover of buildings, improved quality and performance and the reduction of in-use costs and user issues, creating the best possible user experience.”
BDP architect principal Sue Emms said: “This project has the ability to transform how the university operates and, as pioneers of new ways of procuring buildings, transform the way the construction industry operates.”
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