King's College London, Strand Campus
What: Work involved refurbishing and adapting the southern half of the original building at the heart of King's College London's Grade 1 listed Strand Campus.
This included creating social areas, a coffee shop and dining facilities. Rooms were decorated with art loaned by the Arts Council Collection,
To tap into the feeling of the original 1960s anatomy lecture theatre, the 250-seat lecture theatre was furnished with continuous oak writing desks and low lighting. Upper levels of the building added in the 1930s and 1960s were subject to structural alterations with glazed partitions to bring natural light into the building. Disabled access was also improved.
The work is part of a larger strategy to renovate Sir Robert Smirke's 1830s King's Ðǿմ«Ã½,
How much: Total cost to the college was around £40m, including enabling works and direct costs. Construction on the project was £20m, up from £19m after substantial changes to the works due to unexpected challenges during the project.
When: The project team was appointed in 2002 and work started onsite in May 2004. Practical completion was in February 2006 and the Princess Royal opened the building on 16 May.
The 4,500m2 second phase of work on the Strand campus, focusing on the 1970s concrete framed Strand Ðǿմ«Ã½, started in March and is set to finish in April 2008.
Contract: JCT 98 (without quantities)
Who: Cost consultant: Clarus Consulting, architect, building services engineer, structural engineer, acoustic engineer, lighting consultant: Ðǿմ«Ã½ Design Partnership, contractor: Bovis Lend Lease, PM: Gardiner and Theobald
Cost consultant's view: "Being an old building it had been developed, added to, refurbished and modernised over the last 150 years. For example, it was difficult to know where the services route to and from, if they disappeared into a hole in the wall where would they come out again? Despite the fact that there were some original drawings, they weren't hugely informative in the preparation of cost estimates.
Prior to the start of the project the atmosphere in building was very dull. But to have a team go in and do a complete strip and refurbishment, as this, has given the College a fantastic new open and bright building, which can be compared to any modern academic." - Simon Cash, project surveyor, Clarus Consulting
Source
QS News
No comments yet