The University of Wolverhampton’s new £45 million School of Architecture and Built Environment has built further on its success by scooping a coveted top prize at the Constructing Excellence Midlands Awards 2021.
CE Midlands is the organisation charged with driving the change agenda within the East and West Midlands Construction industry through collaborative working.
The new school, which opened in August 2020, clinched the Conservation and Regeneration Award at the ceremony held in Edgbaston recently.
The new building, designed by Associated Architects and delivered by ISG, is the latest addition to the University’s £120m investment in a new construction excellence campus at the former Springfield Brewery site in the city – a brownfield regeneration project which has transformed the site.
The 7,900 square metre build used a mix of pre-cast white concrete, bronze metal cladding and glazing over three floors.
An impressive saw-tooth roof echoes the historic industrial buildings that stood on the site.
Richard Perry, Director Associated Architects, said:
The transformation of a Grade II listed brewery on the 12-acre Springfield Campus was an amazing project to work on.
The building is a flagship development which preserves the legacy of industrial heritage whilst delivering state of the art teaching facilities for future construction professionals.
Comprehensive repairs have ensured that the retained buildings were sensitively restored; ensuring that the layers of history, character of the buildings and a physical record of the adaption of the site over the years was retained.
We also made use of original cobblestones and at the heart of the building the original chimney and water tower rise above all else.
The new School of Architecture and Built Environment offers specialist teaching and social learning spaces, design studios, specialist labs, multi-disciplinary workshops, lecture theatre, cafe, offices, meeting rooms, ICT rooms and a top floor super studio with double-height ceilings.
It provides space for nearly 1,100 existing students and 65 staff, with the number of students projected to grow over time to 1,600.
The school specialises in supporting skills in architecture, construction, civil engineering, building control, building services, facilities management, quantity surveying, planning, construction management, housing and commercial.
The Springfield project is funded by the Black Country LEP, the European Regional Development Fund, the Government’s Growth Deals and the former Higher Education Funding Council for England.
The University’s partnership with City of Wolverhampton Council has also been crucial to the successful completion of the project.
Home to the Thomas Telford University Technical College (UTC), the University’s School of Architecture and Built Environment, and the Elite Centre for Manufacturing Skills, the regeneration of the former Springfield Brewery is central to the University’s vision of enhancing the student experience and supporting business growth.
It will also be home to the University’s new National Brownfield Research Institute for which the University recently secured £14.9 million funding from the BCLEP through the government’s Get Building Fund.
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