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Birmingham City University’s Education and Teacher Training provision has a new home following an £11m refurbishment from Overbury.
The contractor led the refurb of the Benjamin Zephaniah Building, formerly known as University House, on the university’s City Centre campus, with the scheme covering five floors and incorporating teaching spaces and social study areas for students.
Following a competitive tender process that concluded in January, Overbury worked with the university’s initial design brief to deliver the main scope of works, which also included specialist teaching spaces for science, design and textiles, and the arts.
The scheme has been designed with sustainability in mind and has been delivered to a tight programme around the university’s academic year. Overbury has worked in partnership with Associated Architects from the initial design stage through to delivery.
Hazel Herbert, senior project manager at BCU, said: “The Benjamin Zephaniah Building project is a significant one for BCU as it continues to strive to ensure a great university experience for our students. Working alongside Overbury on the project was a truly collaborative experience”.
Simon Stevens, contracts manager at Overbury, said: “Having started with an outline design from the client, our big challenge was delivering the project to the high standards associated with Overbury projects around a challenging project timescale.
“This couldn’t have been done without true collaboration between ourselves and Birmingham City University (BCU) as the client.”
The Benjamin Zephaniah Building project is the fifth major scheme undertaken by Overbury for the university, having previously delivered the fit out of the School of Jewellery, its clinical skills and simulation facilities for health courses, the Joseph Priestley Building, and STEAMhouse.
This scheme forms part of BCU’s broader programme of investment in its learning spaces. This investment, coupled with the ongoing regeneration in the wider city, is intended to give an advantage to BCU’s student experience in an increasingly competitive market.
As well as its fit out services, Overbury’s inhouse team worked with the university on the furniture for the building.
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