Gloucestershire College Construction Centre

THE PROJECT

The new 14,000 square-foot sustainable construction centre is designed to accommodate 164 learners, with a focus on sustainability. It includes 10 plumbing bays, 12 electrical bays, an examination room, classrooms, a computer suite, and 20 carpentry bays, along with 4 additional classrooms.

The structure is built with reinforced concrete pad foundations and a steel frame, featuring a two-way spanning ground-bearing concrete slab. The exterior combines brick and blockwork, with brickwork extending to the first floor, while Rock panel metal cladding and aluminium windows complete the façade.

Sustainability is at the heart of the design, with air source heat pumps providing efficient heating, and solar panels on the campus generating electricity.

£3.5M

CONTRACT VALUE

50 WEEKS

CONTRACT DURATION

Customer

Gloucestershire

College

Architect

Roberts Limbrick

Quantity Surveyor

Ward Williams

Associates

Form of Contract

Single Stage

CHALLENGES & SOLUTIONS

Live operational College

The construction work was carried out while the college was still in operation, requiring careful management of noise, deliveries, and disruptions. Coordination with the college was essential to avoid any safety issues or logistical conflicts. Given the limited space and potential safety risks associated with deliveries, Beard’s Site Manager took charge of planning in advance to ensure that the college experienced minimal inconvenience.

Social Value

Site visits were organised twice each month for both students and teachers to observe the project’s progress at various stages, enhancing their learning and development.

In the local community, the initiative made a positive impact by supporting the Cheltenham Open Door homeless charity, replacing their two showers that had previously caused flooding issues at the shelter.

Social Value

The project also hosted an Open Doors event, inviting 10 SEN students to explore the initiative. Additionally, an estimating workshop was conducted by the project Estimator for a class of SEN students at the college, focusing on interpreting drawings, measuring quantities, and grasping the fundamentals of project costing.

The project team also supported a mock interviews event to support 6 local SEN schools with career guidance and interview skills.

As a company, we understand that importance of not only training the next generation of construction professionals, but also ensuring that they have the right skills to succeed in an ever-changing industry. This will be a key focus for Gloucestershire College and we’re extremely proud to have worked in partnership with them to deliver this sustainable, state-of-the-art facility. Throughout our 130 year history, Beard has built many educational facilities, but it feels especially rewarding to have delivered space to train people within our own industry. Future construction talent, and potentially even future Beard employees, will have the opportunity to pursue their passions and hone their skills here. Designed with sustainability at its core, the building draws electricity from the campus solar generation and battery storage facilities. It also has air source heat pumps, efficient air conditioning systems, and new industry high levels of insulation.