F P Hurley were appointed to deliver the mechanical services in the state-of-the-art Engineering Building at the University of the West of England. The building is located on the University’s Frenchay Campus, and will accommodate 1600 engineering students from summer 2020. The building provides specialist teaching and research facilities such as wind tunnels and engine test cells, and aims to provide a clear identity for the University’s engineering programmes.
The projects follows on from several previous projects we have delivered for the University of the West of England and the established relationship we have with them. In recent years we have delivered several projects for the University, including the Enterprise Zone and the Students Union building.
The building is organised around a central atrium and provides a generous amount of social learning spaces, workshops, laboratories and design spaces. There is also a hub at the heart of the building, which is designed for group study and collaboration between disciplines. The building makes good use of natural light, promoting a sense of openness and visual excitement, which is in line with the University's brief and requirement for social learning spaces.
The project was designed to BIM level 2. Our design team were involved in the design process from stage 4A. Working collaboratively with Hydrock at stage 4A, our designers developed the model from stage 4B to construction issue stage 5. The project features a significant amount of exposed services due to a lack of ceiling throughout the building. BIM has been an invaluable tool in managing this, allowing the client to review the appearance of the exposed services early on.
