Oxford: Bidwells appointed to manage one of city's biggest-ever student developments

Bidwells has been appointed project manager for one of Oxford's biggest-ever student developments which will be situated in the heart of the University.

A ground-breaking ceremony was held on June 2 to mark the start of the £60 million H B Allen Centre, which will incorporate some 255-graduate and academic visitor rooms, as well as additional shared facilities and innovative research space, in what has been named one of the most exciting and significant building projects in Oxford this century.

The centre will provide 231 en-suite rooms for postgraduate students – with many arranged in self-contained flats which have communal kitchen/dining room, common rooms and administrative offices. There will also be a café, gym, lecture theatre, seminar rooms and 24 en-suite rooms for academic visitors.

The research facilities will include approximately 600 sq m of research/office/technology/communal space arranged on four floors in the Woodstock Road Building (in the north west corner of the site) and 1,500 sq m of flexible research/office space all with natural light and views to other parts of the site.

The development will also include a landscaped quad and perimeter grounds and more than 200 bicycle parking slots. The new site will also provide space for University research teams and also potentially for spin out companies.

Derek Farrow, partner and project manager at Bidwells, said: "We are delighted to have been named as the project managers for this exciting development.

"There have been years of planning behind the scenes in order to ensure that this is going to be an amazing facility which will benefit students and college staff for many years to come. We are honoured to have been chosen to lead the project management of the project to ensure the vision becomes a reality.”

Keble College has already funded the land purchase (an additional £10.75m) and raised £35.3m in gift and pledges for the construction project. Of this £25m has been pledged as a capital grant by the H B Allen Charitable Trust, with generous support from many other alumni and friends.

The development is due to be completed by October 2018; the building was designed by Rick Mather Architects. The main contractor is BAM.

The College will be installing time-lapse cameras onsite to keep everyone updated with progress throughout the construction process.