Building Case Studies /
University of Leeds, The Sir William Henry Bragg Building
“Changing the way we think about research”
The building provides a new gateway to the main university campus by re-purposing a Grade II Listed former Mining Institute Building with a new-build collaborative hub of science learning, teaching and research facilities. The new facility links the Faculty of Physical Sciences with the Faculty of Engineering and accommodates a new material and energy research institute in a new ‘clean room’ basement level.
As a new communal space for students and staff in the science quarter, the building provides new science teaching facilities, lecture theatres, seminar rooms, training and meeting rooms, and student support spaces.
The new centre creates a new student, staff, and visitor community space and assists with wayfinding and movement to the other physical sciences and engineering schools on multiple levels. It provides attractive routes to the main campus beyond and brings life to an existing Grade II listed asset.
New landscaping creates a welcoming foreground to the retained façade of the Old Mining building, providing a public space onto the periphery of the campus and main road and introducing spaces for students, staff, and visitors to meet, socialize, and be active. The landscape encourages wildlife and biodiversity and creates attractive, varied spaces for reflection and wellbeing. The public realm is further enhanced by new public art installations – a commissioned sculpture attached to the west-facing gable of the building and lighting installations within the foreground of the public realm.
Location: Leeds, UK
Scope: New build/Refurb/Remodel
Brief: Reception, central atrium, a new café, communal learning spaces for students and staff, new teaching facilities, technical research labs, lecture theatres, seminar rooms, training and meeting rooms, student support, and an information centre.
Floor area (GIA): 16,280 sq m
Sustainability: BREEAM ‘Excellent’
Form of Contract: NEC4 Two-Stage Design and Build
Status: Completed
Construction Cost: £65m
Project cost: £96m
Completion date: March 2021
Project Team
Client: University of Leeds
Architect: ADP
Structural Engineer: Curtins
MEP: Arup
Landscape: ADP
QS: Gardiner & Theobald
Project Manager: Arcadis
Other specialist Consultants: Iris (Clean Rooms Specialists)
Contractor: BAM
Above: Former Old Mining Building main façade and new public realm ©Paul Karalius (landscape)
Left: Main atrium linking the new and old building ©INFINITE3D (portrait)
Below:
Top left: Image 3: Exterior View of the former Old Mining building linked via the atrium to the new six storey teaching and research building ©Paul Karalius (landscape)
Lower left 1: Research Laboratory ©BAM (landscape)
Lower left 2: Café Area and social space ©Paul Karalius (landscape)
Lower right : Exterior View set within the context of the Chemistry building and Engineering buildings ©Paul Karalius (landscape)
Awards
RIBA Regional Award 2023
Civic Trust Award 2023
Leeds Architecture Awards 2023
RICS Yorkshire and Humber
Heritage Project, Winner 2022
An early, strategic decision was to physically link the new building to the School of Chemistry to the South and the Schools of Engineering to the North via glazed internal bridges. The new building offers a gateway to the science quarter through a new reception, a large central atrium full of social activity, a new café,
drop-in learning spaces offering a range of IT and AV facilities. The building offers clear vertical circulation and a social ribbon of break-out and drop-in spaces. Externally the new public realm links to St George’s Field and the main campus both through the new building and around its perimeter.
The scale and massing of the building sits comfortably within its conservation area context, stepping the large massing up to the higher engineering buildings to the North. We introduced a new upper storey with a picture-window glazed perimeter above the grade II listed building. The new building modulates and rises in scale to the post-war schools of engineering to the North.
“This is the largest single project that the University has undertaken since the 1960s, and the result is stunning. The building is a testament to the University's investment in its research capability for decades to come. It also creates a vibrant and collaborative space for academics and students to share knowledge and experience.”
David Oldroyd, Deputy Director of Development, University of Leeds
“The new facilities are fantastic in creating active learning. All and equipment and technology needed for our students is here. You have this fantastic front, old building that seamlessly links to this high-tech, state of the art-new building. It really is fantastic”.
Professor Nora de Leeuw Academic Project Sponsor Executive Dean for Engineering and Physical Science, University of Leeds
“It’s really quiet, really modern, I like seeing people coming and going. It’s a really nice environment to work in”.
Maria
Student, University of Leeds
Working with student groups was important to the success of the project. Engagement was conducted through school workshops, option evaluation and benchmarking, activity workshops, a project website, social media, and ‘town hall’ presentations.
New workplaces, teaching learning spaces have demonstrably led to improved utilisation, the encouraging of sharing of facilities and interdisciplinary working, the sharing of equipment and resources, and the fostering of an open and collaborative working culture.
The project evidenced optimised timetabling and utilisation, the greater flexibility in teaching small and large groups in the same space and maximising of sharing specialist equipment between subject areas which has already led to opportunities for diversification of curriculum, modular teaching, combined complimentary flexible academic offices, seminar rooms, lecture theatres, and social/welfare spaces.
The delivered aim of the project was to catalyse new ways of working across the science and engineering schools, developing new pedagogy, joint-research, and collaborative working.
The Bragg Institute was newly created within the building to accommodate future interdisciplinary materials and energy research requirements for the next 25+ years. The Institute now provides the highest technical environments for materials and energy research aimed to encourage the best researchers and scientists, both existing and newly appointed, to collaborate across fields in engineering and physical science. The university has already met its recruitment targets because of the project.
The drive for greater connection, collaboration, sharing of facilities, expertise and assets is reflected in a simple open plan and practical floorplate with ‘servant and served’ zones allowing for change and the expansion and contraction of school activities and changing research requirements. These zones reflected function not organisation. Zones ranged from highly serviced and closely controlled technical, to general learning and workplace. Demonstrating future changing space needs by mapping fit-out scenarios helped with exploring the future flexibility and adaptability of those floorplates. By accommodating 10% fallow space the university planned for future needs.
20%
CO2 emissions are 20% less than the Target Emissions Rate and adopted 10% low carbon energy sources. The facility includes LED lighting, intelligent BMS, energy efficient mechanical systems connected to to campus-wide CHP.
The building achieved BREEAM ‘Excellent’ adopting a low energy strategy and integrating passive design measures via thermal modelling, daylighting analysis, LZC technologies, the use of soft landings, and operational energy use strategies.
Top: School learning bases on each floor (landscape)
Bottom: Collaborative teaching space linked to ground floor atrium/event space (landscape)
Below: Group room in the former Old Mining Institute (portrait)
