Charles Wilson Building - Phased Redevelopment

The Charles Wilson Building is undergoing phased refurbishment. Phases 1 and 2 are now completed and no further major works will take place before the next long vacation period.

Phase 2 of the Foyer Redevelopment

Over the summer 2012 further improvements are being made to the foyer area for fire safety purposes; additional external doors will be put in place in preparation for the redevelopment of the Sports Hall and a new lift shaft will be added to the building. Sections of the foyer will be boarded off to enable the works but catering outlets will remain open as normal and access will be maintained to stairways and the existing lifts.

These works fit into a multi-year programme of development for the Charles Wilson Building which started last summer. The work aims to allow for more efficient use of the building in the future.

11 December 2011

The access to the building will continue to be via the side entrance whilst the work on the new frontage is completed. All works will be completed before the January examination period.

17 November 2011

The main access in to the Charles Wilson Building will be via the side entrance for the next two weeks to allow the main entrance installations to be undertaken safely. If approaching from Mayors Walk, walk to the right of the building, there is opening which takes you round the corner to the automatic doors.

27 October 2011

To facilitate the delivery of steel supports for the new entrance the following actions will be undertaken:

Thursday 27 October Security will cone off 3 car parking spaces at the top of Mayor’s Walk;
Friday 28 October at 3:30 pm the main front entrance to the Charles Wilson Building will closed, access and egress will be maintained by the side entrance;
NB in the event of a fire alarm, the main entrance will be opened to facilitate the evacuation.
Friday 28 October at 3:45 pm, the road to the front of the Charles Wilson Building will be closed and a storage compound will be formed, pedestrian access to the Bennett Building will be maintained;
Friday 28 October at 4:00 pm approx the delivery vehicle will arrive on University Road and shall be escorted by Security and Bullock Construction Staff, up Mayor’s Walk on the Percy Gee side, and guided into the storage; compound, safely maintaining pedestrian/vehicular routes around the junction at the top of Mayor’s Walk; approximately 4:30pm onwards the steel supports will be unloaded in to the storage area;
The main entrance to the Charles Wilson will remain closed until Monday 31 October 2011 to facilitate the safe installation of the steel work, during this time access and egress from the building will be via the side entrance, which will be adequately sign posted and managed by the contractor.

26 September 2011

The hoardings at the front of the building to protect people from the works are now completed and contain explanations of what works are taking place. The notice boards in the foyer inside the building show detailed drawings and a timetable of works.

16 September 2011

From the week beginning Monday 19 September 2011 works will continue on the South Stair floors 0 - 5 and the North Stair floors 0 -3. There will be decoration works on the 4th Floor. There will be additional works in the basement and kitchen areas and the works on the new disabled entrance on the ground floor will continue.

9 September 2011

For the week beginning Monday 12 September works will continue on both sets of stairs - floors 1-3 and on the new disabled entry works on the ground floor. The hoarding in front of the building will be completed and works will continue on a new disabled ramp at the side of the front steps (see the drawing in the 'about the scheme' section below).

Major works will continue in the basement to enable the infrastructure improvements.

5 September 2011

A hoarding will be erected at the front of the building to cover the main entrance works; there will be a tunnel to enable access to the building from the main steps.

Works will continue in the following areas: North and South Stairs, floors 1-3; ground floor demonolition and construction works for the new disabled access; disabled access ramp construction on the external steps.

Relocation of Prayer Room

The male Muslim Prayer Room has been temporarily relocated from the Mezzanine to Room 802, whilst refurbishment works take place. The male toilets on the mezzanine have been re-located to the prayer room area.

15 August 2011

Hot water supply

There will be some overnight shutdowns of the hot water system to facilitate essential pipework alterations in the boiler plant room - cold water will still be available. These are scheduled for August 18, 24, 27, 28 and September 3 and 4 2011.

Concrete repair works will continue and are planned for the North Stair area (Physics Building Side) floors 3-6 and 10 and the South Stair area (Attenborough Side) floors 1,2 5 and 7-10; this will be intermittently noisy. Temporary hoardings will be erected on the stairs on the 4 and 5 floors (both sides of the building). Demolition of the old risers (vertical cupboards for pipes and wires) will begin on the 2 and 3 floors.

8 August 2011

Concrete repair works will continue and are planned for the North Stair area (Physics Building Side) floors 6-9 and the South Stair area (Attenborough Side) floors 7-10; this will be intermittently noisy. Areas of the stairs on floors 2 and 3 on both sides of the building will be cordoned off by hoardings to enable the demolition of the old risers (vertical cupboards for pipes and wires).

1 August 2011

Concrete repair works will continue and are planned for the North Stair area (Physics Building Side) floors 6-11; this will be intermittently noisy. Hoardings to cordon off areas for infrastructure works will be erected on the South Stair, floors 2 and 3. On Friday 5 August security fencing will be erected around the works to the new disabled entrance on the ground floor.

21 July 2011

Works have now begun on the refurbishment of the Charles Wilson Building; information on the works has been posted in the foyer opposite the main entrance and will be regularly updated by the Contractor.

About the Scheme

What work will be taking place?

The drawing on the right shows the new glass front entrance with improved disabled access. Click on the image to get a full screen view.

The following works will be included in this phase of the project:

Installing new electrical and heating ‘back bones’ (primary parts of the circuits that go to each floor level) into the risers (vertical cupboards for pipes and wires).
Forming new service risers to four locations on each floor, either side of the staircases, from the basement to fifth floor.
Repairing the external concrete on all floors.
Creating a new fire exit and a disabled access route through the main doors.
Installing a new entrance façade at ground floor level.

The drawing on the left shows the extra space that will be gained by the new frontage (shaded in grey) and the location of the front revolving doors and the two new disabled access doors either side. Click on the image to get a full screen view.

How will the work affect building users?

While the work is taking place, semi-permanent enclosures will be installed at each riser location to maximise the amount of space available to building users and minimise disruption. Much thought has gone in to reducing the impact of the work on staff and students using the building however, the nature of the building’s construction means that some activities like drilling and the external concrete repairs will resonate within the building structure. For this reason it has been agreed to limit all drilling works to occur outside of the core hours 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Floors 6-10 of the building should be least affected, except when the concrete repairs are being done on these floors.

The activities on the Ground to Fifth floor will be affected by the works when actually taking place on those floors and possibly the immediately adjacent floor. The work to install new service risers will be done on a floor-by- floor basis, again to minimise disruption.

On Open days, exams and other known events the works have been scheduled to mitigate any disturbance or halted to ensure the activities can go ahead, for teaching and seminars, where possible, alternative rooms have been made available.

Why is this work necessary?

A recent survey of the building identified that while the existing electrical and mechanical services are still safe, they are coming to the end of their useful life. The current infrastructure is also limiting the use of the building both now and for the future. The need to keep operations running means that it is not possible to close the building to completely refurbish it. This first phase of work will mean that future refurbishments can be undertaken on a floor-by-floor basis.

When will the works be finished?

The main riser work is scheduled for completion before the beginning of the new academic year on Monday 3 October 2011. The new entrance façade to the building and basement works will be complete by the end of 2011.

How can I keep up-to-date with the programme of work?

A programme of work will be added to a notice board set up in the foyer of the building prior to the works starting to keep building users informed, this will be updated highlighting the areas and floors where work is proceeding on a weekly basis.