Queens Engineering Building

Provelio provided project management services for the refurbishment and extension of the University of Bristol’s engineering faculty in Queen’s Building on University Walk. The project upgraded and enhanced existing laboratories and teaching spaces through the refurbishment works and extended the building to provide a new Combined Design Office, engineering and electrical labs with associated academic offices and bookable spaces.

The Queen’s Building site is constrained and tight for space, and teaching and research continued near the works. The nearby Woodland Road was constrained due to the concurrent Fry Project being undertaken by Balfour Beatty. Material deliveries required careful management due to the limited space on site and tight access. Weekly coordination meetings were held with Balfour Beatty.

The building is a large four storey 1950s building, which although not listed falls within the Tyndall Park Conservation Area. Careful management of all planning issues was required and Provelio worked closely with CSJ Planning. Several Non-Material/Minor Material amendments were submitted and approved by the planners after the original permission was granted.

In addition, Provelio had to be flexible and responsive to changing user requirements which were generated by changing methods of teaching. For example, in the CDO, additional floor boxes had been accommodated in the works as requested by the users, which were paid for by making savings elsewhere in the budget. This had the potential to cause the projected completion date of August 2017 to be delayed by three weeks, but this was mitigated as Provelio could provide early access to completed floors to ensure the installation of furniture.