People have been getting their first glimpses of the £61 million transformation at the heart of the De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) campus as hoardings have come down for the first time to show the remarkable progress being made.
The redevelopment of the former Fletcher complex is creating a stunning new Art and Design Centre for DMU’s internationally-renowned schools of Art, Architecture and Design, which includes the famous School of Fashion and Textiles.
It is on course to be finished in 2016 but this week, people in Leicester have been able to get their first sighting of the work-in-progress.
Hoardings which had surrounded the construction site have been removed on both Newarke Close and the Gateway, allowing passers-by to see inside.
Hundreds of construction workers, aided by several giant cranes, diggers and trucks, have made good progress on a site which only months ago consisted of the shell of a tower block surrounded by piles of rubble.
Since then thousands of students and staff who pass the construction site each day have been able to see one of the largest single new build projects in the region rise from the ground at an impressive pace.
The construction is broken down into three main areas – the new catering area and adjoining two storey block, which overlooks the Gateway and is known as the clasp structure, the Fletcher Tower development and the new build structure which runs from the Fletcher Tower down to the River Soar and includes a "pod" where the Jonathan KS Choi Creative and Cultural Centre will be based.
Umesh Desai, Deputy Director of Estates for DMU, said: “This is a great milestone in what is a huge development as people can now see for the first time at ground level how works are progressing.
“We are pleased with the way our construction partners Balfour Beatty are progressing with the works and students and staff can appreciate exactly how dynamic this development is going to be.”
Posted on Tuesday 15 September 2015