MMU opens £45m Dalton building

Nearly 10 years in the pipeline, Manchester Metropolitan University has announced that the science and engineering building off Oxford Road is complete.

Bowmer + Kirkland was the main contractor for the scheme, which included the demolition of the 1970s John Dalton West building and the refurbishment of John Dalton Tower. Work began on site in 2021. At the time, the project was understood to have a £45m price tag. 

The new Dalton building was designed by BDP. It is six storeys in height and 145,300 sq ft in size. It incorporates a series of ‘active learning environments’, according to a press release, as well as seminar rooms, and labs. This includes a 200-capacity ‘super-lab’ for the more than 8,300 science and engineering students at MMU to use.

To help with the sustainability credentials of the scheme, 303 solar panels were installed on the roof of the block and a ground-source heating and cooling system was introduced.

Bowmer + Kirkland also reused building materials from the site – including aggregate from the demolished John Dalton West building.

In addition to the physical building itself, the project included the reworking of public realm on the site and installation of a series of bird nesting and bat boxes.

During the opening ceremony last week, vice-chancellor professor Malcolm Press said: “I am confident that the Dalton building will be the foundation for many more successes to come. It will be a place where the brightest minds gather, collaborate, and create solutions to some of the most pressing challenges of our time.”

The completion of the Dalton building is the latest marker of MMU’s campus transformation. Other major projects on this endeavour have included the School of Digital Arts and the Institute of Sport buildings, both of which were handed over in November 2021.