£65m Liverpool John Moores University project wins RIBA North West Award
Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) has procured a £65m flagship development at Copperas Hill with Morgan Sindall through our Major Works Framework. We’re delighted to say that the project has won a North West Award from the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).
Home to the Student Life Building and Sports Building, the gateway site has been praised by students for providing a ‘home-base’ for study and many superb facilities.
Now Britain’s top architects say it stands out for its design and also for “stitching together parts of the city that had previously been disjointed and inaccessible”. The colonnade and external landscaping link the central Lime Street Station with the rest of the university campus, the cathedrals, the concert hall, the theatre and the wider Georgian Quarter of the city.
RIBA judges said: “The Student Life Building feels welcoming, but also mature and aspirational. The architectural approach of the whole project elegantly combines a highly glazed teaching block with the large and unwieldy form of the sports hall, to create an overall ensemble that feels well-proportioned and appropriately civic.
“This impressive building is a new gateway for LJMU and a focal point for the further regeneration of Copperas Hill.”
The 9,500m2 Student Life Building is a hub for students, hosts all administration, student advice and wellbeing and careers services into a single location, and provides a visible new home for the student union.
The two-storey 4,000m2 Sports Building provides indoor competition sports facilities designed to Sport England standards, including an eight-court badminton hall and two multipurpose halls. The interior for the cardio and weights gyms has an industrial look and feel, using black, white and grey, with rubber sports floor, acoustic ceiling panels and mirrored walls for durability and function.
The exteriors of both buildings are characterised by an external sheltered walkway, a colonnade that curves along the full length of the 120m-long site, linking the buildings together and forming the frontage, designed to create a civic route through a site.
A transformational project
Mark Askem, LJMU’s Director of Estate Development, who led the project, said of the prestigious award: “It is fantastic to be recognised by industry professionals as not only providing a great place to work and study but also adding to the wider life of the city.
“This was a particularly difficult set of buildings to deliver during the Covid pandemic and to see the buildings busy and full of life shows that the design has met our original objectives.
“I’d like to thank the whole team who were involved in delivering the transformational project for the university.”
This LJMU development was led by architect Sheppard Robson with Project Managers AtkinsRéalis being appointed through our Professional Services Framework.
Paul Mawdsley, Regional Delivery Manager for the North West at Pagabo, said: “The North West has an impressive number of standout construction projects, so it makes us very proud to have played a role in LJMU being recognised by the RIBA for its Student Life Building.
“A £65m flagship development is not a small undertaking, but we hope that our involvement from a procurement perspective represents what’s possible when an experienced and ambitious project team is formed with our support. When procurement is made one of the earliest considerations, this scheme proves how a vision can become reality – and building users can benefit long into the future.”
Check out more about our Major Works Framework here.
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