Major construction project supporting education and research
Posted on 15 May 2009
Vice-Chancellor Professor Brian Cantor will be joined by university staff and students, as well as representatives from the design and construction teams, for a groundbreaking event as work begins on four academic departments and a Hub building.
These new buildings will...significantly enhance the facilities available to our students and staff
Elizabeth Heaps, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Estates
The new buildings will be set in landscaped grounds featuring an orchard, lake and wetlands as well as woodland walks open to the public.
The University’s Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Estates, Elizabeth Heaps, said: “These new buildings will provide new headquarters for the Departments of Theatre, Film and Television, Computer Science, the York Management School and York Law School. They will significantly enhance the facilities available to our students and staff and, along with the landscaped parkland, will also be an important resource for the people of York.”
BAM Construction has been appointed to deliver this £66m phase of the expansion of the University’s Heslington campus which will include the construction of a Hub building designed to provide training, act as a spur for the creative technologies industries and host University research groups.
The first building on the Heslington East site, the new Goodricke College being built by Shepherd Construction, is already substantially completed and will welcome its first students in September. The new academic buildings are due to be ready by October 2010.
Environmental considerations are at the heart of the design and construction of the new buildings which meet exacting carbon reduction and renewable energy targets. An important element of the campus expansion will be the installation of a biomass boiler to generate hot water using woodchip from sustainable sources.
ENDS
Notes to editors:
- The media is welcome to attend the groundbreaking at 10.30am on 18 May. Anyone interested in attending should contact the Press Office.
- More information about the development, including images of the new buildings, can be found at http://www.york.ac.uk/campusdevelopment/heseast/index.htm
- Twitter users can now keep up to date with news from the University of York at http://twitter.com/UniOfYork. A newsfeed is also available at http://www.york.ac.uk/news-and-events/news-feeds/.