Richmond Building

A large and complex refurbishment to restore the functionality and efficiency of a 1960’s building. The building is home to the University’s Student Union and the project was focused on improving the existing building frame and carrying out a number of phased refurbishments to provide a high-quality student facility within the heart of the city.
The building itself was a 16,000sqm, 7 storey building within the city centre. The refurbishment works consisted of:
– Creating a new cafe and bar for students
– Existing theatre/auditorium
– Student activity rooms
– Study space
– Offices
– Swimming pool changing facilities
– Improvements and modernisation to the exterior appearance and public realm
– Creating a new home for the film and tv department
The works were delivered over multiple phases in order that the building could remain occupied throughout. All decant had to be within the building itself which involved the following activities:
– Identification of sufficient decant areas that fitted within the project phasing
– Design of the temporary decant area to accommodate displaced departments for up to 18 months
– Clear communication of changing phase boundaries to all building occupants
The building itself contained a lot of asbestos, primarily in floor screeds, ceiling voids and inside ventilation ducts. An enabling works package was created to manage the safe removal of all asbestos prior to the main refurbishment works commencing.