The Science, Engineering and Environmental (SEE) Building forms part of the Salford Crescent and University District’s wider masterplan: a £2.5bn development plan supporting major economic growth and enhanced communities within Salford. The plan includes opportunities to develop one million square feet of educational floor space, six million square feet of commercial space targeted at industrial growth sectors, two million square feet of public realms in addition to green landscaped routes and cycle ways, and 2,500 new homes and apartments.
The facility Building brings an entire faculty together in one collaborative space. The four-storey, 15,550 m2 steel frame building is occupied by the University’s departments of Robotics; Built Environment, Architecture, Civil Engineering, Computer Science; and The Morson Maker Space. The fully electric-powered facility features specialist equipment such as flight simulators, robotics, automotive, laser laboratories and a wind tunnel. It is a ‘living lab’ which expresses the building’s engineering function.
Three Winning Facts:
- £20m social value as calculated by Social Value Portal: 60% Local Spend, 100% SME spend, 242 people employed on the project (in total), 10 new jobs created for local people (direct employ), 120 new jobs created for local people – 49% local labour, 2 graduate position created (direct employ) / 7 in total with supply chain, 16 NEETs employed, 622 training weeks, 706 apprentice weeks – 52 Apprentices, 2,768 hours careers support, 24 Build Salford employment course beneficiaries, 106 weeks paid work experience.
- The internal design utilises an exposed services strategy and features a steel frame supported by natural materials like plywood and metal work, helping students understand how a building comes together.
- The project’s social value plan during construction focused on enhancing student education and employment through the University’s Industry Collaboration Zone. As part of this, Morgan Sindall introduced its Knowledge Quad concept to the project; a multi-purposed training and learning facility which delivers value through four focus areas of skills, education, employment and discovery. Based within the onsite setup, it provided Salford students, as well as other users, unique insight into a working construction environment.
