The University of East Anglia (UEA) is an internationally renowned university that provides academic, social and cultural facilities to over 13,000 students.
Our Program, Cost, Consultancy team was appointed as integrated project and cost managers for the development of new student residences on the campus.
The project initially had a budget of £16m, representing the first phase of the development of 401 units in an overall development masterplan to the eastern end of the University campus.
Following the completion of phase one, the University instructed our team to proceed with design development to RIBA Stage D&E, on the basis of reducing project costs by £2,000 per unit. With an agreed contract sum negotiated with the contractor, phase two was incorporated as a variation to the phase one contract, in full consultation with the University’s solicitors.
Phase two involved the development of 886 further units with an overall construction cost of around £40m. The buildings were built on poor ground conditions, and, as a result, have piled foundations.
Each building was constructed with concrete crosswall and a combination of render-facing blockwork, timber-clad elevations, monopitch and curved roofs; and prefabricated bathroom pods in concrete shells.
We led a series of value engineering workshops to establish the necessary changes to the development, without compromising quality or functionality. Modifications to the core projections, building footprint and roof profile, together with a substantial number of minor changes to the interior design, contributed towards a £2,000 saving per unit on the project cost, and a building-only cost of £26,000 per unit.
We played a critical role in helping the University to achieve value for money and its overall targets. The residences have been widely acclaimed as some of the most innovative in the U.K.