Unite Students, Coventry
Value - £1.4m | Main contractor - Bowmer & Kirkland
An impressive seven storey, showcase student accommodation, retail and restaurant development for Unite Students near to Coventry city centre, now home to 286 students. The purpose built accommodation combines studio living space and en-suite bathrooms with communal study, social and utility areas above restaurants and shops at ground floor level.
The challenge:
Far from being a straightforward offsite SFS build, the project included ambitious complex shapes, a tight curved façade, pitched and flat areas of roof and curved corners, requiring a high level of experience and expertise is SFS construction techniques.
Time constraints were a major factor alongside environmental expectations so complete supply chain collaborated was required to ensure the best possible lead times and results.
Added to this were the tight city centre location, restricted access and difficult on-site logistics, thus requiring a high degree of logistical control to ensure that materials were delivered to site as required.
The solution:
The curved, complex shapes and tight curved façade were dealt with by providing short straight sections of Metsec Metframe panels that created a faceted elevation to form an effective curved solution.
The frame needed to be adapted to meet the building’s design and performance requirements and this was achieved by manufacturing a number of bespoke elements.
Pre-panelisation of the frames was undertaken at Mansell Building Solutions’ production facility in Manchester then delivered to site in the correct erection sequence.
The benefits:
With the majority of the fabrication off-site, on-site erection was delivered in a fast and effective manner and construction timescales were cut by 30%.
Mansell Building Solutions effectively managed the erection sequence and the use of just-in-time delivery methods reduced the amount of deliveries to site.
Mansell Building Solutions is one of Metsec’s preferred installers, so have worked closely in partnership for many years and this partnership approach was crucial to the success of this installation.
With high quality and tolerances the solution effectively delivered zero waste on site, overall waste was reduced by 25% over the build and a decrease in weight of over 70%, compared to traditional on-site construction, resulted in a significantly reduced transportation impact.
Mansell Building Solutions completed their works on time ensuring a timely handover to Bowmer & Kirkland.
The development was ready for the 2016/17 academic year and is fully occupied.
