Demolition clears way for student halls
Ocon Construction has started demolishing the University of Liverpool's old Veterinary Sciences Building to prepare for the £50m Crown Place student accommodation scheme.
The new 1,259-bed development designed by Lewis & Hickey Architects is part of the university's plan to focus accommodation in the city centre.
This latest scheme follows completion by Ocon of the 700-bed, £34m Vine Court for the university in August.
Sub-contractor Network Demolition was brought in by Ocon to complete the demolition work, which is expected to take nine weeks. The veterinary sciences department has relocated to a new purpose-built facility.
Steve Jerams, project manager at Ocon, said: "The Crown Place scheme is a lynchpin element of the university's investment plans to provide cutting edge student residences across its estate, improve its facilities and create more sustainable buildings that are cost efficient to run while answering the low carbon agenda. Ocon has already been involved in optimising the potential of this site by modifying the BREEAM 'excellent' design brief to include 200 additional units on the same footprint. Now the demolition phase of the scheme will move those plans forward, removing an outdated, inefficient building to make way for contemporary student accommodation with retail and leisure facilities."
Crown Place is due to open in 2014.
