Manchester Uni names team for Samuel Alexander refurb

The University of Manchester has appointed the project team to deliver £11.5m of works to the Samuel Alexander building on Oxford Road, as part of its £240m development of a new engineering campus.

Manchester-based architect Halliday Meecham has been chosen to design the scheme, with Manchester & Cheshire Construction appointed as main contractor. Gardiner & Theobald is the project manager and cost manager, WYG the mechanical engineer, Curtins the structural engineer and Keelagher Okey Klein the surveyor.

The Samuel Alexander building currently houses teaching facilities for classics and languages. Staff from the Oddfellows Hall, which is used as a language centre, will be relocated to the site in the summer of 2017. The hall will then be refurbished as part of the MECD project.

The remodelling of the Samuel Alexander building will focus on the north, south and west wings.

The works will include the conversion of teaching spaces into offices, café refurbishment, the creation of language hubs and common rooms, and the relocation of the reception desk.

According to the university, the £240m MECD scheme is the largest single development ever constructed on the university campus. The plans are for a plot next to the Manchester Aquatics Centre with boundaries to Upper Brook Street and Oxford Road, Grosvenor Street and Booth Street East. The project is due to complete in 2018/19, and is expected to include new build and refurbished accommodation including the Oddfellows Hall, for the four schools within the engineering and physical sciences faculty.

Works are due to commence in June 2015 and are expected to complete by July 2017.