The refurbishment of an existing Basement at the Drysdale building in Northampton Square to provide new premises for the relocation of the City University Department of Radiography clinical and staff facilities. The gross internal floor area affected was 445m2 across 1 Basement Level, close but not adjacent to a Service access yard.

The premises provided new facilities including:

• Staff, Teaching and Meeting Room spaces
• Rooms housing radiological equipment for practical teaching/demonstration.
• Associated plant room facilities.

The construction contract value was £1,100,000 including additional works paid for by a significant private donation. AppleyardsDWB provided Cost Management and CDMC services throughout all stages of the project. The nature of the project required continual collaboration with all members of the project team to ensure that there was certainty in scope and health and safety control at all stages.

Addressing Key Challenges

• Special materials used in construction. Special precautions were used throughout the design including the transportation of radioactive materials and equipment from other locations to the site.
  Programme management. Programme was critical to the University which meant a number of decants were required between departments. This necessitated careful management and a spirit of cooperation and flexibility
• Working within an occupied area. Large areas adjacent to and particularly directly above continued to be occupied by other University departments. The careful management of noisy site operations was a key component in the successful completion of this project.
• Change control. A successful Change Control system was operated on the scheme which helped the swift decision making required to achieve the ambitious programme. This was ultimately critical in achieving the original programme requirements despite the significant addition of extra works.