Balfour Beatty has been awarded an £18m contract to design and build a mixture of educational and commercial accommodation for Homerton College in Cambridge.
The scheme includes the building of a 450-place mixed education and student accommodation building for a new boarding sixth form college, complete with 132 residences, classrooms, a main hall, laboratories and kitchen and servery.
As part of the project, Balfour Beatty will also construct a new three storey 1500m2 commercial building and refurbish a 500m2 two storey office accommodation building on the site, which was previously used as the Rattee and Kett Master Stonemason’s yard. These two buildings and surrounding landscaping works will be known collectively as the Homerton Business Centre.
Enabling works were carried out by Balfour Beatty between March and August this year.
The newly acquired site off Harrison Drive is parallel to the main London to Cambridge railway line, requiring close engagement with Network Rail to gain the necessary permissions to clear the site and plan for construction activities without affecting rail travellers.
The project will benefit from Balfour Beatty’s expertise in modular construction, with lightweight steel-framing to the inner skin of the internal walls and use of bathroom pods, considerably reducing construction time over traditional on-site methods. Key supply chain partners have been engaged from an early stage, with trades such as mechanical and electrical and concrete specialists already appointed.
Keith Waters, Homerton College Cambridge Estates Manager, said: “This project is one of the most ambitious developments in Cambridge underway right now, which will bring extra students, leading knowledge-based industry and vitality to our city. With their excellent reputation in the student accommodation and commercial construction sector, modular approach and established supply chain we are very pleased to be working with Balfour Beatty and look forward to delivering this project quickly with the new Abbey College opening in time for the next academic year.”
Dean Burgess, Balfour Beatty Managing Director for East Anglia, said: “This scheme in the heart of the UK’s leading academic community will enable expansion by consolidating a number of student buildings around Cambridge. Through our multi-disciplinary expertise and sharing the knowledge of our pre-construction team in Cambridge and that of our project teams on other prestigious education projects such as Westminster Bridge Road in London, we will deliver some outstanding buildings for our valued customer, Homerton College.”
Work on the college will start soon. The commercial building will be completed in late autumn next year, the college in winter 2016 and the final refurbishment of the existing building in spring 2016.
