Inspired

Nottingham College City Hub appoints Bond Bryan Architects to design a campus of the future

New College Nottingham and Central College have appointed a team of award-winning architects to take forward their plan for a ‘hub for skills’ in the city centre.

Bond Bryan, Sheffield based architects with offices around the world, have won the project in a highly competitive open design competition and will add the ‘Nottingham College City Hub’ building to an already impressive collection of Nottingham projects under their belt.

This announcement comes as the two colleges continue to work towards the formal merger which will create Nottingham College. This new, single Further Education provider for the city will be responsive to the skills needs of employers and will develop career pathways into the region’s established sectors and growing industries. The College campus sites will include the City Hub, as well as specialist Centres of Excellence across the city.

Associate Director for Bond Bryan Matt Hutton will be leading the project with ncn and Central and is excited at the prospect of developing an iconic college campus building in his own back yard:

“I’m a Nottingham lad, having grown up in Arnold and completed all my schooling here before going off to University in Leeds. I’ve done a lot of work with education projects including campuses and study centres in Sheffield, York, Corby, Bradford and here in Nottingham. The City Hub project has an ability to create an exciting destination for local businesses and education to mix, providing real benefit to skills and employment in the region. It is an exciting time for Nottingham and I’m extremely proud to be part of it’.

Bond Bryan’s success in the region includes the RIBA-shortlisted Nottingham University Academy of Science and Technology (NUAST) completed in 2016 and the recently-completed University of Nottingham Ingenuity Centre – an iconic three-storey building based at the University Innovation Park (UNIP). They are also on site with a pioneering Advanced Manufacturing Building for The University of Nottingham, on Derby Road, which will help to shape the future of the UK manufacturing sector.

The City Hub building is part of a wider regeneration scheme for the Broadmarsh area. The proposed site is steeped in history and is a focal point in Nottingham’s industrial heritage. In Victorian Britain the site housed some of the country’s worst slums and was a heaving thoroughfare of trade and business. Today, the area represents a prime redevelopment opportunity, adjacent to the soon-to-be-redeveloped Broadmarsh shopping centre, within a stone’s throw of the city’s main transport hub and on the edge of Nottingham’s Lace Market.

“As an architect, it’s important to capture and understand the heritage of a particular site and having grown up here, I’m familiar with the stories of Broadmarsh and Narrow Marsh. The opportunity to transform an area that was once synonymous with poverty and limited life chances into a centre that will help unlock the potential of tens of thousands of young people in the coming years, is particularly exciting.”

Site work on the new campus building is due to get underway in 2018, with a completion date of 2020. Matt and his team will work towards finalising a design for the building to submit for outline planning permission later this year.

John van de Laarschot, Chief Executive of ncn and Central Colleges said:
“Bond Bryan understand our aspiration for something truly iconic, something that does not simply fit the mould of a traditional college campus, but which provides a unique space in which business and education can co-exist and the relationship between the two can be strengthened. This Hub, and the services it will house, will provide real benefits to employers and students.

Bond Bryan’s past work proves that it is possible to create modern learning environments that successfully bridge the gap between the workplace and education. Matt knows that I’d like students, staff and employers to have some input into the early design ideas, including the building, its surroundings and the internal facilities. When we put this Hub together with the College’s other Centres of Excellence located across the city, we will have one of the biggest and best-resourced further education institutions in the country.”

The City Hub will be part-funded by the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership (subject to Business Plan) and Nottingham City Council and is a key aspect of the wider redevelopment of the southern gateway into the city. The intu Broadmarsh centre, car park and surrounding road space will be completely redeveloped as part of a £250m project to regenerate the area, creating a more welcoming and open environment for visitors from the southern part of the city. According to Nottingham City Council, the redevelopment of the area will bring around 2,900 more jobs, £25 million extra spending per year and attract three million more annual visitors to the city.

Bond Bryan are delighted that the University of Nottingham Ingenuity Centre has been nominated for a Constructing Excellence Award 2017 in the following categories;

Client of the Year
Health & Safety Award
Sustainability Award
Project of The Year

These awards focus attention on some of the most important issues in the construction sector. They recognise the very best companies, collaborations and projects sharing best practice and inspiring others to adopt new and better ways of working that deliver outstanding results.

The awards ceremony will take place on Friday, 19th May, 2017 at the Nottingham Belfry, Nottingham Business Park Way, Nottingham NG8 6PY

The Ingenuity Centre has also been nominated for RICS Awards for the East Midlands region 2017 for the Design Through Innovation and Commercial category.

The dinner is being held on Friday 28th April 2017 at Athena in Leicester.

MIPIM, The World’s leading property market, brings together the most influential players from all International property sectors.

Bond Bryan will be attending from the 14 – 17 March at the Sheffield City Region Stand in the Palais des Festivals as well as the London Stand. To arrange a meeting with our team, please email our MIPIM delegates, details below:

Darren Southgate
John Lee
Geoff Halliwell

Above Image (left to right): Darren Southgate, Geoff Halliwell and John Lee.

Bond Bryan are delighted to be sponsoring this year’s AoC Capital and Estates Conference and Exhibition 2017.’

Managing Director, Jonathan Herbert, will be talking ‘Estates Opportunities in a Post-Area Review World’.

The Area Review process aims to target efficiencies whilst maintaining, or even improving, provision. Whatever the motivations of those who devised the process, it is clear that, post-Area Review, each college must look to generate savings, and, in particular, target ‘overheads’ – thereby protecting the quality of front-line teaching and the overall student experience.

In this scenario, the Estate is often labelled as an ‘overhead’- a cost to be reduced. Yet, after the quality of teaching provision, the quality of the physical environment is the second most influential factor affecting the student experience. We are able to identify potential quality-driven and efficient solutions that would support the delivery of training in the 21st Century – whilst reducing the Estate’s costs in a sustainable way.

Come and see us – Wednesday 25th January – stand 18.

The newly-refurbished West Wing at the University of Suffolk has created The Atrium, which opened its doors to students this month.

The Atrium now provides new, modern, accessible facilities including:

• The Ipswich Waterfront Innovation Centre;
• The Radiography VERT suite;
• PC Labs;
• Psychology Labs;
• Computer Games Design and Network and Software Engineering Labs;
• New seminar rooms.

Through working in conjunction with the University of Suffolk and the appointed Design Team – Castons Cost Consultant, Johns Slater & Haward Services Consultant and Assent Building Control – Bond Bryan Architects have been able to develop a functionally-robust but aspirational design solution which meets the needs of its users and stakeholders.

The new Ipswich Waterfront Innovation Centre, housed within the University’s Atrium Building, will provide a focal point for developing high growth potential ICT – small to medium enterprises (SMEs) – in partnership with the University and a space to foster student enterprise initiatives. The project also provides new specialist and general teaching spaces as well as an upgrade of the fabric and services to reduce energy consumption and improve the internal environment.

Adrian Stubbs, Project Architect of Bond Bryan Architects, explained: “This retrofit project was all about transforming an under-utilised building into a new innovation and teaching hub for the University of Suffolk. They required a cost-effective solution for a building that would act as a catalyst for the University, enabling it to become an integrated campus with local businesses, industry and the wider community of Suffolk. Internally, we created a mix of spaces that allows different forms of collaboration within the building to take place.
Externally, there was a requirement for a visual connection between the existing Waterfront and Library buildings, which has been done through the careful choice of materials and “brise soleil”. These materials have made significant energy savings whilst boosting building performance.“

Stef Thorne, Head of Research and Enterprise Services at the University, said:
“Suffolk and the East of England is already an important technology cluster with great potential to become of increasing significance.
This innovation centre will contribute to the innovation landscape within the region and be quite unique as a single point of integration between academic expertise, facilities and businesses.
Innovation centres have been credited for helping to sort out the ‘knowledge spaghetti’ that exists. There are all kinds of stakeholders and organisations in the region in regards to innovation and it is our aim to help small businesses, we can signpost, to the appropriate place to make sure SMEs are accessing the right people.”

Professor Mohamed Abdel-Maguid, Head of Department for Science and Technology at the University, said:
“This facility is the seed to setting up an innovation district in this part of the town. What we want to do is to use IWIC to build our university and, at the same time, to act as the gateway to facilitate access to knowledge wherever it exists. We want to bring more talent and knowledge, ideas, expertise – whether permanent or ad hoc – as needed for the region.”

Ipswich has been recognised as an emerging technology cluster in the 2016 Tech Nation report, which looks at the UK’s digital economy.

Ben Gummer MP, who opened the centre, said, “This is another exciting new development in Ipswich. For the first time in Britain, we are bringing together not only postgraduates – but also undergraduates and apprentices – with entrepreneurs, business start-ups and an enterprise incubator. In plain English, we are helping bring together people starting businesses with those people who are training to be business leaders, owners and employees. It is a radical solution; it is made in Ipswich and I am certain it is going to help us build the prosperous economy that we need in our town for future generations. Full credit to Richard Lister, his team at the University of Suffolk, and his partners at the New Anglia LEP, the Borough and the County Councils, for bringing this brilliant new innovation centre together.”


This £5.5m refurbishment was thanks, in part, to a £1.85m award by the LEP as part of the New Anglia LEP’s Growth Deal with the Government.

Bond Bryan are delighted that planning permission has been granted for Ecclesall Road – a mixed-use residential and retail scheme.

The £35m development looks to renew an acre and a half of a former low-rise and low-density car dealership site, with a high-rise urban scheme of residential apartments, student accommodation and retail space.

Designed in two parts, an eleven storey student building adjacent to Pomona Street and a cluster of three residential blocks rise above a ground floor of retail spaces; the project is then unified around a first floor landscaped courtyard that is shared by residents. The ground floor units will be let to restaurants and bars and higher-end shopping to complement the existing experience on Ecclesall Road.

Director, Darren Southgate commented: “Each building has its very own ‘character’, yet between the different parts of the development, a harmonious ‘family’ effect is created amongst them. Each of these buildings functions as a singular, but together – as a whole – they create a family of structures that respond to environmental and building science considerations through their orientation and relative siting, thus maximizing their natural light and acoustic privacy.
The eleven-storey residential block rises strong in form using dark grey bricks, deep reveals and large-format windows. The Pear Street block is smaller but has softer features and finer detail – curved and splayed corners, top-floor setbacks, warmer coloured bricks – which give a more feminine character. The Pomona Street block is the shortest but most exuberant in character, with warm brick colours, rhythmic window patterns and an articulated zinc clad top: a more ‘youthful’ character.”

Dan Simpson, from developer Hallminster Ltd, said the development would be ‘visually striking’ and a major ‘boost’ to the area. He added:
“It’s an important mixed-use scheme for Ecclesall Road, on a site that has been long overdue for redevelopment. It will be a very high quality project with a community feel and will bring that part of the road alive, providing an important link between Ecclesall Road and the city centre. We kept going when things were tough in 2011 and 2012, ensuring there were still cranes on the skyline of Sheffield, and now this is one of our biggest projects so far.
It will regenerate another part of Ecclesall Road – in keeping with its distinctive character – creating a new sustainable community and providing employment opportunities for the city at the same time.

Residents living in the apartments will have semi-private gardens, roof terraces and balconies, as well as a communal courtyard.

Mr Simpson added: “The development is intended to look visually striking and will have a very high specification.”
It will incorporate environmentally-friendly measures, modern methods of construction – and utilisation of materials that have a relatively low embodied energy will make the development sustainable.”

Construction on site is planned to commence in early 2017 with a completion date in late 2018. 

A ground-breaking ceremony on Thursday 10th November marked the start of work to build a pioneering Advanced Manufacturing Building for the University of Nottingham that will help to shape the future of the UK manufacturing sector.

Bond Bryan are delighted to be working with midlands-based G F Tomlinson to create a state-of-the-art 9,011m2 training and research facility on a former brownfield site located within the university’s Jubilee Campus.

The new building will be an expansion of the university’s Faculty of Engineering, creating teaching spaces, laboratories, modern workshops and offices for research activities, including nano-scale production, robotics and large-scale aerospace demonstrator components.

Professor Andy Long, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for the Faculty of Engineering at the university, said: “The new facility will host several world-leading research groups and accommodate some of the most advanced manufacturing technologies related to automation, precision manufacturing, 3D printing and light weight composite materials.

“It will also house our flagship Rolls-Royce University Technology Centre for manufacturing technology. This faculty will allow for diverse engineering and science disciplines to collaborate and contribute to pioneering developments for a range of sectors including aerospace, automotive, marine, energy generation, food and drink, chemical products and pharmaceuticals, helping to underpin the economy at both a regional and national level.

Andrew Sewards, managing director for G F Tomlinson said: “This scheme truly demonstrates the University of Nottingham’s position as a beacon in manufacturing research. The completed scheme will be home to world-class research facilities and revolutionary research activity, helping to nurture collaboration and innovation between education and industry.
He continued: “Having successfully delivered a number of schemes previously on the Jubilee Campus, we are excited to be working with the University of Nottingham once again, bringing our expertise in education and large-scale manufacturing buildings, to benefit the university and the city of Nottingham.”

Chris Jagger, Chief Estates and Faculties Officer at the university, said: “We are delighted to once again be working with G F Tomlinson and our selected design and project management partners, to ensure the successful delivery of another ambitious flagship building project, to further enhance our Jubilee Campus.”

The project has been part funded by £5 million from D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership and a £1 million contribution from the Wolfson Foundation to provide a state-of-the-art clean room for the investigation of 3D printed pharmaceutical devices.

The project team includes project managers Turner and Townsend, architects Bond Bryan, engineers Arup and cost managers Currie and Brown (previously Sweett).

Jason Scott of Currie and Brown said: “Working on our first project under the university of Nottingham consultant framework, we are delighted to have played such an integral role in providing cost consulting services on the Advanced Manufacturing Building”.

Once completed the new landmark building will have the capacity to house 699 staff, students and researchers, helping to train and provide the next generation of industry professionals.

Bond Bryan are delighted to have won the ‘National Project of the Year’ category – together with Interserve – for Factory 2050 – at the National Constructing Excellence Awards on Friday.
Now in their tenth year, these prestigious Awards are one of the highlights of the industry’s calendar and are attended by over 450 built environment professionals from across the UK.

Director, Darren Southgate said: “Our Interserve table was so buoyant with three wins out of three entries, but the highlight was definitely taking the top prize of “Project of the Year” for Factory 2050. There are so many people to thank – from the University of Sheffield and Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre teams, our consultant colleagues at Gardiner and Theobald, Rex Proctor and Partners, Curtins, RPS and of course our Bond Bryan architectural team who led this project from a design perspective. A wonderful overall team effort, culminating in this coveted Award, seeing some very worthy national contenders fall away.”
Interserve also scooped two awards on the night: Regional Managing Director for Interserve Yorkshire and Humber, John Gittins, was awarded ‘National Achiever of the Year’ for his business contribution to the region as well as the ‘National Integration and Collaborative Working Award’ for the Huddersfield Royal Infirmary project – a great night for all!

Last night Bond Bryan Digital won “BIM Project of 2016” at the Construction Computing Awards 2016. The awards affectionately known as The Hammers, are in their 11th year and recognise both technology solutions and their use in the construction industry.

The award was for Bond Bryan Digital’s East Dormitory project which was a collaborative project with Bill East (Prairie Sky Consulting), the original author of the COBie standard. Bill and Bond Bryan Digital have worked together to publish the architectural design model which is published here as well as releasing a book together which can be purchased here to demonstrate the practical application of COBie (a standard schema for exchanging digital information for handover to clients).

This award follows Bond Bryan’s success in the same category in 2015.

Associate Director, Rob Jackson said: “We are delighted to win an award for a project that was designed to help the industry understand COBie from a practical point of view. To win such a prestigious award against such tough competion two years in a row is a fantastic achievement for the team. We now feel inspired to try and make it a hat-trick in 2017!

Congratulations to our Sheffield studio architects, Sarah Hussain and Eamonn Chapman, on successfully passing their Part 3 exams.

Geoff Halliwell, Director, commented: “This is absolutely brilliant news. I know just how hard Sarah and Eamonn have worked to achieve this. They are a great asset to the Bond Bryan team and we would all like to wish them the very best for what will be without a doubt, a very bright future in the profession.”

Congratulations from everyone at Bond Bryan!