The Brunel Building

To accommodate significant growth in demand for spaces at South Gloucestershire and Stroud College, this project was commissioned to create new sixth form teaching space for more than 300 students at one of the college's campuses, providing a mixture of classrooms, studios, a human performance lab, a lecture theatre and a cybercafe.

Our team was responsible for cost management of developing designs, followed by analysis and scrutiny of market testing and agreement of the contract sum.

The brief changed considerably through the design stages with the college opting for a low carbon cross-laminated timber frame building in favour of the traditional steel frame originally proposed.

Initial market testing came in considerably over budget, meaning value engineering options which reduced costs but did not compromise quality or the college’s brief were essential.

Selection of the low carbon cross-laminated timber frame was embraced, with the team quickly completing additional designs to maintain completion within programme.

A value engineering workshop was held with the full project team where proposals were tabled by all members. This collaborative approach meant the contractor was happy to proceed while value engineering solutions were being finalised and the contract sum was being agreed, meaning progress against the programme could be maintained.