Information on Loughborough

Sir Richard Morris Building

Posted on 16/11/2007
P. Klein

Posted on 16th November 2007

R.Reed

The Mayor of Charnwood and the Vice Chancellor of Loughborough University

It seems that every trip up to Loughborough University Campus a new building has sprung up somewhere. Over the years the University has been climbing the ranks so that it has now become one of the top universities in the Country. It is now also highly regarded both in Europe and globally.

Given its success it is hardly surprising that accommodation needs to be upgraded and extended. Today saw The Worshipful The Mayor of Charnwood, Joe Tormey, officially open an extension of the Richard Morris Building belonging to the Business School which work began on in August 2006. However the word extension in this context does not do justice to this construction project. Not many people can claim that their extension cost £4M, is on three floors and uses state of the art technology.

Designed by award winning Nottingham Architects CPMG there has been a real emphasis on an energy efficient building. Once any building of this size would have substantial mechanical and electrical installations for the air conditioning, but not with this building.  Its integral air-ducting system, together with controlled ventilation openings and natural convection, enable even temperatures to be maintained in the building without the use of energy hungry air conditioning.

The extension is the materialization of Professor Ian Davidsons vision as Director of the School for a bespoke, environmentally friendly centre of excellence, and it reinforces the Schools reputation as one of the top providers of business and management education and research in the UK. Talking about the project Professor Ian Davidson said:  "In todays environment of sustainable development, the Business School extension stands out as an example of how good design, complemented with computer-controlled ventilation and air-circulation systems, can provide a high quality, low energy environment for professional development programmes.

The original building was designed by architects Ahrends Burton and Koralek is distinctive in that it is curved. CPMG maintained this geometry on the extension, however used differing materials to distinguish between the two areas. It nearly doubles the buildings previous size, adding new teaching and seminar facilities together with break-out areas, a café and staff offices.

At todays opening the speakers, Professor Ian Davidson, The Mayor of Charnwood Joe Tormey, Loughboroughs Vice Chancellor, Professor Shirley Pearce and Sir Richard Morris spoke of how pleased they were for the Business School, the University and  Loughborough in general.

END 

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