Work begins this month on a 7,592m² facility for further and higher education courses.
The four-storey development will replace a number of unoccupied buildings and a car park on Charlotte Street and Holland Street in Birmingham’s city centre, in a conservation area on the edge of the Jewellery Quarter. The client’s project team includes Associated Architects, Gleeds as cost consultant, EC Harris as project manager, Couch Consulting Engineers for structural services and Couch, Perry & Wilkes as mechanical and electrical consultant .
Peter Millett, Shepherd Construction’s managing director for the West Division commented: “We’re delighted to have been awarded this contract and look forward to working closely with UCB to help deliver their vision for a modern city centre campus. We are due on-site in a couple of weeks and the project is scheduled to complete in June 2013.”
College principal Ray Linforth said: “The appointment of Shepherd Construction marks another step closer for us in achieving our goal of providing additional excellent teaching and learning facilities at University College Birmingham. Shepherd’s pitch for the work and their reputation in the construction industry, demonstrate their commitment to providing a quality service and a professional product and these are values which we align with very strongly. We have insisted on high levels of sustainability to be integral to the project including installation of photo voltaic solar panels, rain water harvesting, energy efficient lighting and high levels of heating insulation. The contractor is required to achieve BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating and EPC energy rating B, both indicating extremely high energy efficiency levels within the building.”
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