Clegg Construction completes £13m student accommodation scheme

Housing Wed, Mar 23, 2016 9:54 AM

Building of a £13.25 million student accommodation project in Birmingham has been completed by Clegg Construction.

The latest development provides accommodation for 437 students at Selly Oak in Birmingham, close to the city’s main university campus.

Following a competitive tender process, Nottingham-based Clegg was awarded the contract by The Student Development Partnership.

Work began last summer with the reduced level excavation of the site and removal of ground contamination before construction could begin on the three accommodation blocks.

The completed project consists of three steel frame blocks of eight, six and five-storey flats including en suite rooms and cluster flats with communal lounges and kitchens.

Clegg has previously worked with the partnership’s operator Victoria Hall on its Nottingham and Leicester student residences, but the Selly Oak project was the biggest build and budget they had awarded to Clegg.

Simon Blackburn, managing director at Clegg Construction, said: “We are delighted to have successfully completed another project for Victoria Hall which has once again proved to be an excellent client to work for.

“Not only was this a large-scale project but it was certainly the most challenging brief given to us by Victoria Hall in the years we have been working together.

“The site was very restricted as it is bound by the Selly Oak bypass, a railway line and a brook so we had to plan carefully to make the most of the space available for the building works and ensure those restrictions did not hinder the construction process.

“We believe the end product is one the university and city can be proud of which will meet all the needs of today’s students to enable them to live and study successfully in Birmingham.”

The buildings were designed by O’Connell East architects who, along with Clegg Construction, had to meet special requirements including flood defence works due to the nearby brook and achieving a ‘very good’ BREEAM environmental rating.

Clegg Construction has developed a reputation for its work over the years with a number of student accommodation developers including Victoria Hall.

Other schemes it has undertaken include the completion of the £20 million Faraday Road development in Nottingham which created 870 student bedrooms and the £3.5 million Study Inn halls project in the same city.