Site visit to the University of Nottingham Jubilee Campus

Transcription

1 Site visit to the University of Nottingham Jubilee Campus Peter Heaslip. Chris Bruce, John Lawlor, Paul Horan 25 February 2003

2 Original Campus Map University Park

3 Existing University Park The main campus, apart from south-west corner, was an open expansive campus on an undulating suburban landscaped space of 330 acres, situated about 2 miles from Nottingham, built from a number of older substantial estates and houses. The southwest corner was quite densely built on with an assortment of buildings, dating from the sixties, including a tower block of 13 stories. The original university buildings are cut stone Edwardian edifices. The Campus is not integrated with the local community in a physical sense. There is a public park directly in front of the original university buildings. There is a large internal integrated campus built around the extensive student residences. Students seem to have little need to leave at all. The university also owns a farm of 100 acres near Nottingham where biology and agricultural research takes place.

4 Nottingham - fact file Student Population - 28,000 6 Faculties Turnover GBP 280m

5 Jubilee Campus University strategic plan called for a major expansion of student numbers in a number of areas, notably business and computer science. The decision was made to preserve the existing campus and instead to start a new campus on an adjacent site. The Vice Chancellor, Sir Colin Campbell, was the main driver behind the project and has been there for about 6 years. Funding was available from the University s reserve and the rest of the capital required was borrowed. The University involved local residents from the start with information leaflets and meetings throughout the project. The Jubilee Campus was originally 20 acres of brown field site, around 95% coverage was a former Raleigh factory.

6 Jubilee Campus

7 Site Occupying 20 acres within a mile of the existing University Park on the western edge of the City of Nottingham, the site has expanded to 60 acres with the University hoping for a further 60. The Jubilee Campus, comprising a new lake, landscaping and main buildings were the former Raleigh factory. The University acquired the Factory and its ancillary buildings and yards in 1995 and immediately bought the meagre landscape belt buffering it to the adjoining housing.

8 Design (buildings) The design incorporates a lake running the full length of the site, creating a focal point for the development, as well as providing a visual link to the existing University Park campus. The main departmental and teaching buildings, together with postgraduate hall of residence, are arranged along the edge of the lake, and the Learning Resource Centre is located on an island platform in the lake. A broad walkway runs the length of the lake edge, connecting the buildings and providing the main pedestrian thoroughfare for the campus. The total area of new building is 23,000m 2

9 Design (landscape) The University developed an exacting environmental brief for the project. In the design of the landscape, great care was taken to ensure the optimum use of an existing belt of mature trees at the far edge of the lake; this area is reinforced by further planting to encourage wildlife and ecological diversity within the heart of the City of Nottingham, lying on the limit of an existing wildlife corridor.

10 Accommodation The Business School The School of Computer Science & IT The Schools of Education & Continuing Education Central Teaching Facility Central Catering Facility Learning Resource Centre Halls of Residence

11 Architecture Teaching blocks: The overall height is three stories. The main teaching building consists of wings, housing each school, connected at the back by circular stair towers. The wings are separated and interconnected by full height atria or open courtyard.

12 Architecture The wings are separated and interconnected by full height atria or open courtyards. Atria are treated as non-habitable from heating etc, but solar, leakage and some local heating from patio heaters makes them useable all year round.

13 Central Facilities The Central Teaching Facility is similar in plan, but with a wider atria, providing a ground floor central covered piazza, with banks, retail outlets and facilities for the Students Union. A three-tiered lecture theatre in the form of an inverted cone arises in the centre of the atrium, accommodating three lectures.

14 Learning Resource Centre The Learning Resource Centre visually floats on the lake providing a focal point for the whole of the Campus. It contains the library and a 24-hour access computer laboratory. The building has been designed again as an inverted cone, with the internal floor spiralling outward to the top.

15 Halls Of Residence Two halls of residence for undergraduates are single person bedroom units with common rooms and bar facilities, providing a total of 600 places. The undergraduate halls are 2 storey incorporate internal courtyard gardens and large areas of public space. It was noticeable that there was a lower specification as the building s were showing their ware and tare already. There is a hall of residence for postgraduate students providing 150 places.

16 Structure Designed to meet exacting functional, quality and environmental requirements, the academic buildings are constructed of reinforced concrete and clad in glass with the three-storey sloping glass atria and open courtyard gardens. Internally there are light-weight partitions. The only negative comment from the university is that the acoustic rating should be increased in future. They are therefore very flexible both internally and with the external skin. In contrast, the halls of residence are constructed from pre-cast concrete clad in a more traditional red brick. Full height windows feature in all upper floors

17 Furniture Careful selection in the design and use of furniture was notable with the integration into the partitioning system. Academic staff desks faced the wall to give a huge sense of space in small offices along with a large area of glazing. Regulations It was very noticeable that the Architects had achieved relaxation in the regulations, untreated timber panelling in the stairs and open balustrades.

18 Services and Building Environment All of the buildings on the Jubilee Campus are designed to match and surpass the University s environmental brief. Attaining the objective of providing a comfortable working, learning and teaching space, together with achieving high energy efficiency, required the total integration of design development to make the buildings work. The architects and the engineers, Ove Arup and Partners, developed many innovative energy efficient solutions for ventilation, lighting, heating, and cooling of the buildings. In recognition of this, the University and the design team applied for, and were successful in obtaining, an EC Thermie grant which helped to further develop the systems and techniques in order to bring the whole system closer to the ultimate goal of a zero-energy system. This involved the addition of photovoltaic cells to provide sufficient energy to drive ventilation fans; modifications to the air intake plant to reduce the energy requirement: the addition of windcatchers to the air outlets to improve the draw-through of the exhaust air, and modifications to improve the penetration of daylight into the buildings to reduce the necessity for artificial lighting.

19 Procurement An architectural competition to develop a masterplan was staged by the University in collaboration with the Royal Institute of British Architects. The carrot for the winner was to design initially 50% of the masterplan. The designs proposed by the architectural practice, Michael Hopkins and Partners, were the unanimous choice of the panel of judges. The plan is little changed in its final form. Each entrant received an honorarium of GBP 10,000. Addition fees for advisory consultants to the University were approximately GBP 200,000.

20 Timescale Site purchased 1995 Architect Appointed January 1997 Contractor Commences Works July 1997 Practical Completion September 1999

21 Timescale The Architects were awarded the design in January,1997 The construction management contract was awarded to Bovis Europe in July The buildings opened in September,1999, The construction was undertaken by approximately 45 separate trade contractors. I assume site clearing was done before the appointment of Bovis.

22 Value The overall value of the Jubilee Campus project is 50 million. ( 80.m) The construction value for the main Jubilee Campus area is set at GB 25.5 million 40.6.m) (1999). The construction value for the undergraduate halls of residence is an additional GB 9 million. ( 14.3.m) The university stressed throughout the design process that value for money was critical. The design philosophy was set by the budget cost and if necessary the schedule of accommodation suffered to achieve targets. The Estates Office will retort they got what they could afford and if it was wrong or could be improved they would do it next time but it would have to suffice at the moment. In total 40,0000 m 2 were built on approx 20 acres. The site has since expanded to 60 acres. The original design concepts have been continued in a new building built independently on the campus for an independent centre for the training of secondary school principals, showing how an attractive site can leverage related activities. Other developments for the university itself are on-going.

23 Estates Management The Estates Office has a staff of 600. The Director has three other directors and a qualified technical staff. They handle their own security, cleaning and ground maintenance. They run conferences without accommodation at profit. An independent project manager was recruited from private industry to handle the Jubilee campus project internally. Acknowledgements: Thanks to Chris Jagger, Head of Estates, for his hospitality, time, and willingness to answer all questions.