Award-winning project management and cost consultancy, Summers-Inman, has been appointed to another major higher education scheme at Teesside University.
The cutting-edge BIOS, Laboratory & Life Sciences Building, (BIOS) with a gross value of £35m, was secured after responding to an Invitation to Tender through the North East Universities Purchasing Consortium (NEUPC) framework and won on a cost and quality basis with the calibre and expertise of its key personnel, its methodology and approach, innovation and corporate social responsibility elements being key features in the consultancy’s winning tender.
With an appointment to provide project management and quantity surveying support from RIBA Stage 3 onwards, it is the second project the Summers-Inman team has been awarded through the NEUPC framework and one of five major schemes won at Teesside University through different framework routes as part of the university’s ambitious campus masterplan.
Built over four storeys, with a gross internal floor area of 5,000m2 its cutting-edge design comprises medical teaching facilities on the ground and first floors with teaching laboratories on the first, second and third floors, while at ground floor level, a catering outlet is planned for the benefit of staff and students.
The building will be designed with sustainability at its heart and as a BREEAM Outstanding building with a Net Zero rating, it will incorporate a range of renewable energy systems such as PV panels, low carbon building materials and energy efficient equipment, systems and plant. Its attractive, high quality and flexible environment has been designed to require minimal maintenance over its planned sixty-year lifespan.
Internally, there will be a range of ‘wet’ teaching facilities and research laboratories for the delivery of scientific disciplines; a clinical skills suite with digitally enabled simulator spaces to create a wide range of clinical settings and scenarios as well as non-specialist spaces such as seminar rooms, workspace and support facilities. The Earth Sciences and Food Sciences faculty will also be located there.
Commenting on this latest project win, Associate Director at Summers-Inman, Andy Rapmund said: “We are delighted with this appointment and the opportunity to further develop our professional relationship with the Teesside University team. We are also delighted to be working with Wates Construction again.
“With the well-publicised rising cost of materials, we are committed to managing these fluctuations by early engagement with the supply chain supported by planned procurement to mitigate any delays to the programme while still ensuring compliance with Net Zero and BREEAM requirements.
“BIOS is an exciting project to be part of, not only drawing upon our extensive experience within the higher education sector, but we will also be working at the forefront of sustainable design with a mandate to ensure the building achieves Net Zero embodied carbon and a BREEAM Outstanding certification.
“Enabling works have been completed and the main construction works commenced on 25 July 2022 with the building scheduled for occupation in September 2023.
Darren Vipond, Director of Campus Services at Teesside University, added: “The School of Health & Life Sciences currently occupies facilities in several buildings dispersed across the campus, which presents logistical challenges and can impact on the student experience as well as affecting the school’s potential for future expansion, so we are eager to start on site with the roll out of this next phase of our masterplan which will see the consolidation of all the existing School of Health & Life Sciences facilities under one roof.
“We are also pleased to be working with Summers-Inman again as project manager and quantity surveyor on BIOS. The team has shown a high standard of professionalism and a thorough understanding of the way we work on earlier projects.”
Once complete, BIOS will significantly add to the quality and range of teaching facilities at Teesside University, supporting the university’s ambition to offer postgraduate medical education in the future.
Other members of the professional team include FaulknerBrown Architects, Desco (Mechanical and Electrical Services), Curtains (Transport, Civil and Structural), One Environments (Landscaping) and Mariner (BREEAM and Net Zero consultants).
- Summers-Inman operates nationally with a staff of over 130 employed in seven offices throughout the UK in Edinburgh, Newcastle, Teesside, Manchester, Leeds, Leicester, Birmingham and London.