MAJOR NEW HEALTH AND MEDICAL BUILDING OPENS AT UNIVERSITY OF WORCESTER

Named after Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, the first woman to qualify as a Physician and Surgeon in the UK, a new state-of-the-art teaching centre for health and medical students has opened its doors at the University of Worcester.

Providing outstanding facilities for the university’s health students as well as becoming the home of the university’s new Three Counties Medical School, which will welcome its first cohort of students this September, the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Building is the result of a significant refurbishment project. The adaption of an existing newspaper press building to meet the needs of the university, avoiding carbon-intensive demolition work and rebuild, has delivered significant carbon savings.

Formerly home to the Worcester News and Berrows Journal, the once drab concrete building has undergone a complete transformation over the past 12 months, with a now golden exterior and a new atrium, simulated GP consultation rooms, light and spacious social learning spaces and a cafe with indoor and outdoor seating on the inside. The space, which once housed the giant printing press, is now home to a stunning new anatomy suite with high-tech equipment for students to learn about the human body and perform procedures in a controlled environment. The introduction of new floors and stairs, with level access, plenty of lifts and spacious toilets ensure the building is inclusive and accessible to all.

Global multi-disciplinary design practice BDP’s civil and structural engineering teams worked on the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Building, with BDP’s landscape architects responsible for the campus masterplan and public realm, which includes a ‘wellness trail’ that will form part of the campus in the future. The architect firm on the project was Glancy Nicholls Architects (GNA) and the M&E designer was CPW. The university’s complete construction partner was Stepnell.

70% of the embodied carbon of the new health and medical school structure is from pre-existing components from the original printing house. Effective reuse of the existing foundations and frame has secured significant carbon savings when compared to the potential impact a newbuild structure would have had. Indeed, the preserved elements of the building offered a saving of embodied carbon equivalent to 612 one-way flights from London to New York, or 306 people’s consumption of meat, dairy and beer for a year, or 168 average family cars running for a year, according to a BDP report based on the Institution of Structural Engineers’ (IStructE) assessment tool, which is now used as standard by many structural engineering consultants.

In keeping with the university’s commitment to sustainability, the refurbishment has been completed to outstanding environmental specifications, achieving a Gold SKA environmental rating from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), which is specific to refurbishments and is not applicable to new builds. This continues the university’s strong track record in delivering capital projects, both new builds and refurbishments, in a sustainable way. The university achieved a Gold SKA award for the refurbishment of its Art House facility as well. A key driver of the SKA scheme is the emphasis on end-user build quality. It puts the onus onto the wider design team to fulfil the project’s ambitions rather than focussing primarily upon the main contractor. It also extends this approach into the supply chain by clearly stating the requirements within the tender documentation.

The gold-coloured inert copper alloy cladding that has been added to the exterior is an efficient, long-lasting material providing a weathertight covering to a thick layer of insulation, making the building inexpensive to heat or to cool depending on the season.

Other key elements of BDP’s engineering approach included the upgrading of the glazing to provide a better-performing ‘curtain wall’ with a new glazed entrance way, as well as the replacement of the roof with a lighter version that allowed for the installation of solar PV panels. The overcladding of insulation to the facade, which was previously concrete cased, also improved the energy efficiency of the building.

Erik Dirdal, Civil and Structural Engineering Director at BDP, said: “This project is an excellent example of how careful repurposing and retrofitting of existing buildings can provide state-of-the-art, sustainable and accessible new facilities that, in this case, will educate students for generations to come. By taking this approach, we avoided the need for carbon-intensive demolition work, achieving significant carbon savings when compared to a new-build approach, and ensured this iconic building provides a lasting legacy for the university.”

Professor Sally Moyle, Professor Vice Chancellor Health and Science, said up to 1500 health students would be using the new building each week. “These students, studying nursing, medicine, midwifery, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, paramedicine and more will be the backbone of tomorrow’s NHS,” she said. “The university has been investing in high-quality health courses for over 20 years because we know just how badly the country needs these graduates.”

Professor David Green CBE DL, Vice Chancellor and Chief Executive at the university, said: “We are delighted that this new facility is complete and ready for use by our health students, including our new medical students starting in September. I would like to express my sincere thanks to all the partners who have supported us, including the Clive Richards Foundation, the Kildare Trust, our local NHS partners, Worcester Town’s Fund and the Office for Students.”

Professor Sandra Nicholson, Founding Dean of the Three Counties Medical School, added: “We are looking forward to welcoming our first cohort of medical students in September who will have the opportunity to learn in this outstanding new facility. Many thanks go to our NHS partners and many others who have supported us in our journey to establish a medical school in Worcester, which will make a huge contribution to the people of this region.”

Adrian Barnes, Regional Director at complete construction partner Stepnell, added: “We are incredibly pleased with the outcome of this project to create high-quality teaching facilities for healthcare trainees, designing and building a striking and essential learning space for students.”

The new facilities complement the existing clinical simulation suite at St John’s campus. The building forms part of the university’s new Severn campus for health, wellbeing and inclusive sport, which has seen the university regenerate a largely-derelict riverside industrial estate.

Further exciting developments on the new campus are planned, including the world’s first inclusive cricket centre in partnership with the England and Wales Cricket Board, with BDP’s civil and structural engineering and landscape teams supporting, while a further building for teaching the everexpanding number of health students at the university is also planned for construction in 2024. www.bdp.com

The whole campus is being opened up with new cycle and pedestrian facilities, car parking and 100 electric vehicle points, which are all available for public use, as is the cafe in the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Building.

Fact file:

Client: University of Worcester

Civil and structural engineer: BDP

Architect: Glancy Nicholls Architects (GNA)

Landscape architect: BDP

M&E designer: CPW

Complete construction partner: Stepnell

Quantity surveyor: AA Projects