North East furniture maker Godfrey Syrett has successfully completed a £1.2m contract for the University of the West of England (UWE, Bristol) for its new state-of-the-art business school.
The new £55m facility brings together students and staff of both Bristol Business School (BBS) and Bristol Law School (BLS).
Godfrey Syrett’s dedicated team worked closely with the project coordinators at UWE Bristol, and project architect Stride Treglown, to identify the best furniture solutions for the new facility.
The building features two showcase law courts, a city trading room, a 300-seat lecture theatre, two Harvard lecture theatres, technology enhanced and flexible learning spaces, IT suites, meeting facilities, a central social space and a café.
Wynn Morris, national sales manager at Godfrey Syrett said: “With collaboration at the core of this new facility it was important the furniture solutions offered flexibility to foster interaction between students, staff and local businesses.
Throughout the seven-floor building there are various breakout areas where we created informal spaces for meeting, relaxing or working, as well as semi-private booths creating space for more focused group work.
We used furniture with integrated electrical points for enhanced learning spaces and in the main atrium a selection of benches and long tables provide an informal cafe space.
This has been a very rewarding project for our team and we are all delighted with the
end result.”
The recently opened facility offers an innovative approach to Business and Law Education. Key professional organisations from the local area will have a base in the new building, enabling barristers, accountants, small business owners and start-ups to mix with staff and students.
Helen Baker, head of procurement at UWE Bristol said:
““Following a rigorous tender using the SUPC furniture framework Godfrey Syrett were selected as preferred supplier to develop the architect’s vision. From the off they were a pleasure to work with assisting with design development, colour scheme and fabric choices. They managed the installation programme very professionally taking the inevitable project challenges in their stride. We are delighted with the outcome.”
Godfrey Syrett, which has been established for 70 years, has two manufacturing sites in the North East where it makes a vast range of furniture for the education, defence, hospitality, commercial and healthcare sectors.
The firm has worked on a number of university projects throughout the UK including De Montfort University’s Campus Centre, University of Leicester’s Centre for Medicine and Sheffield Hallam’s Heart of the Campus.