Balfour secures deal for university project

Balfour Beatty has been selected as the preferred bidder to build the University of Sheffield’s new engineering building on its Jessop East site.

The construction firm beat off competition from five other companies on the shortlist to be named as the preferred bidder.

Contract negotiations are now underway and Keith Lilley, the director of estates and facilities management at the University of Sheffield, said he had been very impressed with the winning tender.

He added: “The new engineering building is a critical development for the university, forming the centrepiece of our development plans over the next decade.

“The development of this fantastic new building makes it possible for us to carry out an ambitious refurbishment programme, to bring all our engineering estate up to the standard our staff and students deserve, including comprehensive upgrading of the grade II listed Mappin building, which is at the heart of the engineering campus.”

Opened in 1904, the Sir Frederick Mappin Building houses the departments of mechanical engineering and electronic and electrical engineering.

Mr Lilley added: “Balfour Beatty is already working with us on the £20m redevelopment of our students’ union building which will be complete and ready for the start of the new academic year, and we look forward to continuing that successful relationship to deliver this vital project, which is the largest single capital investment ever made by the university.”

The £49m construction scheme is expected to begin later this year, and will form part of the £81m investment being made by the university in the building, which will be fully operational by 2016.

Around 1,600 extra engineering students are expected to arrive at the university by 2020, with 400 extra staff being recruited to support that growth.

A university spokesman said: “The success of engineering at the University of Sheffield received a further boost recently, with the announcement that it had overtaken the University of Cambridge in terms of the amount of research funding it attracts.”

In March, campaigners said they were “deeply disappointed” that an Edwardian former hospital building was set to be bulldozed to make way for the £81m university development.

Eric Pickles, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, decided not to call in the planning permission granted by Sheffield Council to build the new engineering building. The development will involve the demolition of the Edwardian wing of the former Jessop Hospital for Women.