Edith Murphy House
The Edith Murphy House Project is a major £8 million pound refurbishment of the previously known Bosworth House, creating a new facility for the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, with accommodation for the majority of the School of Nursing and Midwifery.
The ten storey building accommodates Classrooms, Lecture Theatre, ICT Lab, meeting rooms and offices.
The building completed in summer 2011 including the transfer of staff and facilities from the Charles Frears campus.
This is in line with the Leicester Campus Masterplan and finally consolidates all activities onto one campus.
The refurbishment comprises full window replacement and complete new mechanical and electrical installation incorporating energy saving features.
The work includes a new lift and stair core incorporating two new large lifts and main staircase.
A new entrance to the building has been created and approached via a paved and landscaped walkway leading off Magazine Square.
The project has achieved a Very Good BREEAM rating at design stage and the team are working on completing the Post Construction Review Assessment for a submission to the BRE [British Research Establishment]. It is hoped that a Very Good rating will be achieved for the project.
The gross floor area of the building is 5292m² and based on the contract sum the costs are £459m² for the basic building, £388m² for M&E services and £20m² for external works and drainage. This results in a cost per m² of the building of £867. These figures are construction costs excluding VAT, Consultant fees and direct university costs.
The total area of the site is 0.1918 hectares. The total floor area of the building is 5292m². This is made up of:
| Offices |
2018m² |
[38%] |
| Classrooms |
1,188m² |
[22%] |
| Toilets/Plant Space |
462m² |
[9%] |
| Storage |
179m² |
[3%] |
| Circulation |
1,221m² |
[23%] |
| Lobby Space |
224m² |
[4%] |
Based on energy modelling at design stage the building’s predicted electrical consumption is 29.98 kWh/m², fossil fuel consumption 49.12kWh/m² and water consumption 7.3m³/person/year.
There is an expectation that the energy and water consumption within the building will be reduced compared to the previous Bosworth House by a variety of measures examples of which include new double glazed windows, the introduction of mechanical and electrical control systems that were previously not present and low energy light fittings.
The building also includes the following innovative and low impact design features:
- Natural Ventilation and Bespoke Design Solution
- Use of fresh air heat recovery units due to restricted floor to ceiling heights
- Building intelligent Automatic Lighting Control System including daylight sensors
- Self Testing Emergency Lighting System
- Sanitary supply shut-off to toilet cores when not in use for a period of time
- Compression tap fittings to Washbasins to minimise water usage
Sustainable measures introduced to the building include an electronic energy metering and data collection system to allow the university to monitor usage and consumption.
When reviewing the existing mechanical and electrical plant it was agreed to retain and reuse the existing boilers and gas-fired hot water calorifier as these still had a useful life.
A recycling system has also been introduced into the building for paper, plastic and cardboard waste. The university also reused a lot of existing furniture as opposed to simply scrapping this for new.
Baggaley Construction took a series of steps during the construction process to reduce the environmental impact. This included operating a SWAMP recycling system which involved the use of an off-site waste recycling and disposal company. This resulted in 84 per cent of construction waste from the project being diverted from landfill.
Baggaley Construction also worked under the Considerate Constructors Scheme and achieved an excellent result of 36.5 for the project which results in achieving a further innovation credit under the BREEAM scheme.
The contractor also minimised energy and water consumption during the construction process by settings targets that were monitored on a regular basis. Switch off light and turn off tap signs, were located in all areas to encourage all parties to play their part.
Baggaley Construction also held a series of fund raising days to raise awareness in respect to charities such as Cancer Relief.
The university's Estates Department facilitated the meeting of all stakeholders including the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences throughout the design and construction process. Regular site visits during construction were arranged to show future users around the building. Their contributions and comments have resulted in a successful building that meets their needs and aspirations.