"The University of Manchester has announced that the £287 million contract to construct the Manchester Engineering Campus Development (MECD) has been formally awarded to Balfour Beatty, the international infrastructure group.
The four-year project forms an essential part of The University of Manchester’s ten-year Campus Masterplan to create a world-class estate benefitting staff, students and visitors.
This will support the University’s strategic goals of creating world-class research, providing an outstanding learning environment and student experience and social responsibility. MECD will provide a state-of-the-art facility, housing the University’s engineering schools, innovative teaching spaces and research institutes such as the Dalton Nuclear Institute and the BP- International Centre for Advanced Materials (BP-ICAM).
It will consolidate the majority of the University’s estate onto one main campus, creating a more compact and coherent infrastructure that reduces the institution’s carbon footprint and costs. MECD will also free up considerable land holdings in the north of the campus, contributing to the future economic success of the city with redevelopment opportunities in a prime city centre location.
Upon completion, the facility will benefit from ‘green’ construction techniques resulting in smart energy consumption and advanced water recycling and waste systems. The development will host a wide range of flexible hi-specification laboratories and lecture spaces to welcome up to 7,000 students and 1,300 staff. MECD will also incorporate blended learning facilities, workshops and a ‘maker space’ where students will see their engineering creations come to life."
Read full version of The University of Manchester Press release.
Mecanoo’s design will deliver an inspiring, highly flexible first-class teaching and research environment that transforms the way in which the University educates future engineers. The new campus will heighten the visibility and accessibility to the University’s activities in engineering and the applied sciences, facilitating a stronger engagement with industry, local schools and the wider public. Integrating architecture, interior and landscape.
MECD will have a strong identity that reflects Manchester’s past, present and future – a city of pioneers, continued to be led by discovery. The design is driven by the core principles of visibility of activities, technology, permeability, urban continuity and craftsmanship.