Buro Four leads £200m engineering campus work

Buro Four has been appointed by the University of Manchester to manage the development of a new £200m engineering campus.

The development will be the largest project ever undertaken by the university and will feature new build, as well as refurbished accommodation, for four individual schools within the Engineering and Physical Sciences Faculty.

A total of 764,237 sq ft of university space will be analysed, rationalised and re-designed to create the new development, housing several thousand students and staff.

The university is currently mid-way through the briefing stage, with work expected to start on site in 2015 and completion planned for early 2019.

The project will utilise Building Information Modelling Level 2 throughout.

The University of Manchester was established eight years ago following the merger of the Victoria University of Manchester and the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology.

The university has since developed an estates plan to invest £1bn over the next ten years to create a world class, single site campus for staff and students. The first phase of the plan, costing around £700m, will be delivered over the next six years.

Further projects will include new centres for the School of Law and Manchester Business School, a major refurbishment of the University Library, a bigger and better Students' Union and a new Medical School Building. The telescope at Jodrell Bank is also to be refurbished as part of the plans.

A planned £300m second phase will run from 2018 to 2022 and would see the development of a new biomedical campus and health centre as well as the refurbishment of the university's computer science, environmental sciences, mathematics and chemistry facilities.

Buro Four has recently worked with the universities of York, Swansea and Southampton to deliver new campus developments, and also brings experience of working on a number of high profile projects in the region including the new Chester Theatre, Library and Cinema project, First Street North, Buxton Crescent Hotel and Thermal Spa and various projects as part of the Salford Central masterplan for English Cities Fund.

David Boles, regional director of Buro Four, said: 'This is an absolutely fantastic project for us and for the region. We have a long standing relationship with the University of Manchester and are delighted to be playing such an integral part in their exciting transformation. The complexities of a redevelopment programme such as this are not to be underestimated; it is essential that the campus represents best value, whilst delivering to the university's vision."