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New student accommodation for the University of Oxford’s historic Somerville College officially opened on Saturday 17 September. The new building will house 65 undergraduates and will be available for conference facilities during out of term time.
Somerville College was founded in 1879 to give women, (at that time excluded from membership of the University), the chance to benefit from an Oxford education. Its alumnae include Margaret Thatcher and Indira Gandhi.
Hoare Lea designed the MEP systems and provided acoustics advice for the accommodation which consists of two separate, freestanding blocks comprising 68 study bedrooms arranged over three and four floors. Hoare Lea's Lighting group was involved in ensuring the long corridors outside the bedrooms were visually interesting, and a great deal of attention went in to the design of these areas. The building is designed and built to BREEAM ‘Very Good’, incorporating vertical ground source heat pumps to a depth of 50m, underfloor heating, solar hot water, photovoltaic panels and has the capability for connection to the proposed Radcliffe Observatory Quarter site-wide energy infrastructure.
The services will be controlled through a central building management system which will link to the existing Somerville College system.
Located on the 10-acre Radcliffe Observatory Quarter site; Somerville is the first building to be completed on the development and is built on the last remaining large plot of land in the heart of the city. Other Hoare Lea projects on the site include the Mathematical Institute and Radcliffe Infirmary.
The university's chancellor referred to the ROQ site as one of the institution's "most significant projects for more than a century".
For more information go to: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-14943991
