Governor of the Bank of England Lays Foundations of New HLM-Designed University of Exeter Business School Building

The new facility will be located As part of a 24 hour visit to the

University of Exeter Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, has laid the foundation stone of the new Business School extension in a ceremony attended by Professor Steve Smith, the Vice Chancellor and Chief Executive of the University, David Allen, Registrar and Deputy Chief Executive, Professor Richard Lamming, Dean of the Business School together with local business people, staff and alumni of the Business School. The new building, designed by HLM Architects, will cost £18 million and is part of a wider £25 million investment over

the next three years. The expansion means that by

2012, the School will have doubled in size, with over 3,000 students, 120 academic staff with a turnover of £34 million. The 3,000 m2 (32,292 sq ft) state-of-the-art building is due for completion in December this year and will house a centralised entrance, a large café with open plan learning and teaching spaces and student support functions at ground floor level. On the two floors above will be lecture theatres and teaching rooms, as well as space for researchers, with a management suite on the third floor.

next to the two existing buildings, and integrated into the business school campus with contemporary landscape architecture. The landscape will interact with the new building, creating vibrant, flexible and animated spaces for socialising, learning and relaxation. The creative use of planting and materials will unite the business school buildings, provide clear way-finding and reinforce the aspirations and identity of the school. “It gives me great pleasure to be associated - in a very modest way – with the new Business School building at the University of Exeter. This marks a further progression in the development of the Business School, which can only be of benefit to the University, Exeter and the South West. I am also delighted to be back in Exeter, having last visited in 2007." Commenting on the visit

Professor Lamming said, “We are delighted to welcome the Governor to the Business School in a landmark ceremony that demonstrates the next phase of

our expansion and development. This is another step towards our aim of being recognised as a leading international business school.” Richard Parsons, director at HLM Architects, said, “The way we have designed the internal spaces is intended to encourage greater interaction and communication between staff, researchers and students and to promote a range of learning styles including group work and individual study. By installing solar hot water panels on the roof, upgrading systems, increasing insulation and air-tightness, and optimising natural ventilation, HLM has designed the building to achieve BREEAM ‘excellent’ status and to reduce carbon emissions by 15 % over the current part L requirements.” The previous evening the

Governor gave a key note speech to an invited audience of 600 local business people and academics at a gala dinner in the Great Hall. Hoare Lea is the sustainability consultant.

Deep Surprise as Work Starts on Bilston’s New Police Station

Bilston’s impressive state-of-the-

art replacement for West Midlands Police’s second oldest police station will have its own surprise special feature, which will be kept strictly under concrete wraps. Midlands company Greswolde Construction uncovered a 3 m by 25 m mine shaft during work to stablise the ground for the new building, the eagerly-awaited successor to the town’s 170 year-old station. “We knew this was a coal mining area, and our drilling experts were on site to grout the coal seams, but the shaft was quite a surprise,” reports Greswolde’s Site Manager Dave Jenkins, whose team had to secure and cap the hole before resuming work. The new purpose built sector station will be delivered by West Midlands Police Property Services in conjunction with Brierley Hill based Jennings Homer & Lynch

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architect Roy Pugh. “The new sector station faces the War Memorial on its public entrance side and the main Black Country route on another, so we have given it two front elevations,” explains Roy, who has reflected Bilston’s historic red brick style, married with modern render, powder coated steel cladding panels, windows and doors and full length aluminum louvres. “The three storey building is stepped back to allow natural through-ventilation as part of the requirements for the BREEAM rating.” The £1.8 million project will be

one of the West Midlands Police buildings with the BREEAM (BRE Environmental Assessment Method) green specs appeal, applauding best practice in sustainable building. Greswolde’s recent £2.3 million project for Keele University achieved an ‘excellent’ rating. Architect Roy

has also added a stylish steel bridge, to link the upper level public entrance to the sector station. Built in 1840, when PCs were on 17 shillings (70p) a week, the original station is a listed building that does not allow best use of space.

“It no longer meets modern policing requirements and the new site will be more central as the regeneration of the area unfolds and Bilston urban village shifts the focal point of the town, making the new station more accessible to the public,” comments a spokesperson

from West Midlands Police, which will sell the old building after the new one is completed in the autumn. “The site is quite a tight one, given its busy location and high interaction with the public, which means that all site deliveries have to be carefully controlled and roads kept free of debris,” adds Greswolde MD Malcolm Priest, whose company operates a Good Neighbour Policy.

“We are

delighted to be working on such an interesting project that will serve the local community.” Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24