LONDON (Feb. 16, 2021) — The University of Oxford welcomed a new addition to its Science Area recently with the completion of the 26,000m2 Oxford Biochemistry Building. Set over six floors including two basement levels, it will become home to the Kavli Institute for Nanoscience Discovery and will house more than 40 faculty and 400 students, postdocs and research staff. AECOM, the world’s premier infrastructure consultancy firm, was cost consultant for the scheme.
AECOM’s Richard Mann, Healthcare and Science Sector Leader UK & Ireland said: “Delivering one of the university’s most complex and largest capital projects within budget and in such uncertain times has required clear cost certainty from day one. This has been achieved through clear and accurate commercial guidance and working collaboratively with the university and project team to identify opportunities to secure cost efficiencies.”
The Kavli Institute will be a unique combination of structural biology with world-leading biochemistry, pathology, chemistry, physics, physiology and engineering. The building will also feature highly specialised technical and research areas, while being home to three cryo-EM microscopes which have a higher resolving power than light microscopes and can reveal the structure of smaller objects.
The project has been completed by Laing O’Rourke in collaboration with the University of Oxford Estates Services Capital Projects team and other sections of the University’s Estates Services department.
Laing O’Rourke’s Project Leader Rob Cooper said: “I am very proud of what has been achieved at the University of Oxford by the team and our partners, particularly through the challenges of adapting ways of working to create a covid-secure site while maintaining focus on delivering a successful project, on time.
“Our use of modern methods of construction allowed us to manufacture large elements of the project offsite. We manufactured concrete structures and MEP vertical risers, horizontal distribution service modules and plant rooms in our factories in Nottinghamshire and the West Midlands and assembled them on site which has helped with social distancing requirements; and from the outset was planned around the logistical challenges of constructing within the very centre of the campus.”
University of Oxford SRO, Professor Matthew Freeman said: “Much pioneering science happens at the interface between disciplines, and Oxford University has a long history of global impact that has relied on such interdisciplinarity. This includes, for example, the development of penicillin as the world’s first antibiotic and, more recently, a successful Covid-19 vaccine. The communal laboratories and shared interaction spaces of our new building are designed to foster productive interactions that will catalyse future breakthroughs of the same magnitude.
“I have been very impressed with all the teams who have been involved in this mammoth project. At the heart of the process has been an open and constructive relationship with Laing O’Rourke. It’s been a credit to all involved that despite the twin challenges of Brexit and global pandemic, the building was completed on schedule. We are now excited about moving in and turbocharging Oxford’s scientific research.”
The project team also includes HawkinsBrown architects, Pell Frischmann structural engineers and Hoare Lea Building services Engineers, alongside CPC Project services. Structures and geotechnical aspects were delivered by Expanded Structures and building services and infrastructure technology by CHt to deliver these world class premises.
With the building now handed over, equipment in support of the science is being installed and first occupation is expected to begin from this month.