Construction work

Tender description

The University of Leeds is seeking the appointment of a principal contractor to deliver the North East Quarter Development (NEQ). The NEQ project is the development of the North Eastern Quarter of the University campus to create a new multi-disciplinary teaching and research facility linking activities in the Physical Sciences with the Faculty of Engineering. This involves the relocation of Computing, Physics and Astronomy together with the construction of a Bragg Centre for Materials and Imaging into 1 building, whilst providing space for innovation / incubation activities. The Schools are currently located in the EC Stoner building and the ‘Physics Research Deck’. The NEQ development consists of 3 elements that come together to form 1 6-storey building that encompasses the schools of Physics and Computer Science together with the research facility of the Bragg department. These elements are the 3 storey Grade II listed Old Mining building, a 5 storey atrium and the 6 storey new build flexible laboratory block. The elements above are in sequence leading from Woodhouse Lane stepping back towards St George's Field. The new accommodation will provide exemplary facilities for 21st Century research and student education in these disciplines: the new laboratory space will be more suitable for the high specification of equipment that is required to undertake much of today's research and the new locations will enable growth in these areas. The new development also improves the proximity of the Schools to each other: at the moment Computing is located at a distance from the remaining Engineering Schools, whilst Physics and Astronomy is located at a distance from Chemistry as well as potential Engineering partners. Existing Clean Room facilities, supporting activity recognised through recent external prizes and awards, are also approaching the end of their planned lifespan and in 5 years' time they will likely need to be replaced at a higher specification (to reflect advances in the equipment that they are designed to house). The site is located at the North East perimeter of the campus. It is bounded by Woodhouse Lane and the Old Mining building to the East, School of Chemistry to the South, School of Electrical Engineering to the North and St George's Field to the West. The multi-disciplinary research and teaching facility will provide a new gateway to the Northern part of the University of Leeds campus. The University's aspirations for the building is to provide a state of the art facility constructed to a high standard with high quality materials with the flexibility to meet the research requirements for the next 30 years.