Building projects totalling £71m are set to transform the campus at the University of Huddersfield.
New construction work plus upgrades and refurbishments to existing buildings are under way or due to start over the next 12 months.
The roster of projects overseen by the university’s department of estates and facilities ranges from the £30m creation of a new home for the study of art, design and architecture to the £2m transformation of a small but distinctive listed building dating from the 1950s to create an art café open to the public and provide exhibition space for students’ work.
Also under way is a new £18.2m block that includes an entire floor and facilities designed to enable A-level and BTEC students to get access to advanced equipment and stimulate their passion for science.
The most ambitious of the current projects is the £30m Barbara Hepworth Building, the new home of the university’s School of Art, Design and Architecture. The foundation stone was laid earlier this year by university chancellor the Duke of York and contractors Morgan Sindall are on target for the July, 2019, completion date.
The Barbara Hepworth Building will stand on a site once occupied by the foundry belonging to engineering firm Thomas Broadbent.
Still standing is the 1955 workers’ bath house, which was designed by long-established Huddersfield practice Abbey Hanson Rowe – now global architecture firm AHR. The company will take on the sensitive task of turning the bath house – which has features influenced by legendary US architect Frank Lloyd Wright – into an art café to provide a new hub and meeting place for the town.
Already completed by contractor Bardsley Construction is an £8.3m refurbishment of the Joseph Priestley Building, home to the university’s School of Applied Sciences.
Work now begins on an adjacent £18.2m science block with labs dedicated to the study of biology, chemistry and optometry – an all-new course.
The building will be ready by July, 2019, and includes the important innovation of an outreach floor. Architects for the science block are ADP – their first project for the university. The contractor is BAM, whose past assignments include the Business School, the Creative Arts Building and the Harold Wilson Building.
Other projects include a new £2m electricity substation that will ensure that the University’s campus can meet an increased demand for power. The contractor for this is Britcon.
There are also £400,000 of improvements at the Charles Sikes Building, home to the Huddersfield Business School, including the creation of a business development area. Carrying out the work is rfm Construction Management, on its first collaboration with the university.
Others include £500,000 of improvements to the university’s library, undertaken by Milnsbridge-based contractor Illingworth and Gregory. Contractor Jackson Lifts is carrying £500,000 of upgrades to lifts in three of the university’s main buildings.
A car park at Wakefield Road next to the Schwann and Oastler buildings will be brought back into use with a £100,000 scheme designed by architects Jefferson Sheard that will include a number of electric vehicle charging points.
