East Yorkshire-based Premier Modular has delivered a £2.6 million contract to provide a bespoke, sustainable base for a global university collaboration.
The Engineering and Design Institute London is a joint venture between King’s College, Arizona State University and UNSW Sydney at Canada Water in the capital.
It is the first phase of an innovative new modular campus for research and development.
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Designed and built in just nine months, ready for the first cohort of students, it further underlines the increasingly popular off-site construction solution, with pace and sustainability twinned with minimising disruption at the end location.
Designed by internationally-renowned architects Hawkins\Brown, the building will be in use for the next seven years to allow British Land to work with TEDI-London to develop a permanent home. It meant minimising impact on the environment was therefore a key part of the project brief.
David Harris, managing director of Premier Modular, said: “This use of modular construction brought a number of important environmental benefits to the project. As with all our buildings, this scheme was manufactured by Premier at our factory in Brandesburton with zero waste to landfill. When the Institute relocates to its permanent home, the modular structure can then be dismantled for sustainable re-use or recycling.
“The lightweight nature of the Premier steel-framed offsite system also meant the campus building could be sited on the existing concrete base of a disused car park, avoiding the need for intrusive foundations.”
Other environmental features include low energy lighting, highly efficient heating and cooling using air source heat pumps and mechanical heat recovery ventilation, and Siberian larch cladding which can be re-used or recycled when the building is dismantled.
David Walters, programme director at British Land, said, “We are using modular construction in a really different way on this campus. It is enabling our tenants to grow with us, only taking the space they need at any one time, with the knowledge that we can respond rapidly to expand the building when they need to add more space. This is achieved with the least possible disruption, and an architectural quality that enhances the surroundings enormously.
“The partnership with Premier continues to work exceptionally well and has definitely added value to the project. We can utilise all the benefits of offsite – speed, less impact on the environment, ease of expansion, and less disruption – whilst creating a high-quality education facility which looks fantastic.”
Premier and Hawkins\Brown have also been working as industry partners to the Institute, contributing to the curriculum by setting and participating in an engineering challenge.
Sarah Whittaker-Gilbey, head of facilities, health and safety at TEDI-London said, “This is a wonderful building. All the feedback has been so positive. It encourages interaction and collaboration, and has a strong community feel – exactly what we wanted. We all just love it!”
It follows the delivery of a huge hospital expansion in London, Premier’s largest single site project to date.
Andrew Tindale, associate at Hawkins\Brown, added: “It has been a pleasure working alongside Premier to design and deliver the building and landscape within the budget and time constraints.”
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