News
OCON COMPLETES £45M NOTTINGHAM STUDENT PROJECT
Ocon Construction has completed phase I of the £45 million Opal 1 at Chettles Yard in Nottingham, handing over 302 student bedrooms in time for the new academic year, along with the development’s management suite, common room and residents gym.
The development, located adjacent to Nottingham University’s Jubilee Campus, will eventually provide 1,090 student bedrooms across eight buildings, with completion on the entire scheme scheduled for August 2011.
A mixed use scheme project designed by architects, Lewis & Hickey and managed by Kudos Development Services Limited for Ocon’s parent company, Opal Property Group. The design and build development also includes six retail units, and several light industrial units. The brownfield site included a Magnet store which the contractor demolished along with a derelict pub, and a new store has been built for the kitchen retailer as part of the scheme.
The development has been conceived to combine contemporary standards of student accommodation with sustainability. The completed blocks are to be serviced by a biomass boiler for heating and hot water and the development provides minimal provision for car parking, incorporating instead bicycle stands for residents.
Seven of the student accommodation buildings will be of steel-frame construction and the eighth will be of traditional construction. All the buildings will have a rendered finish along with various colours of metal cladding and Trespa to the elevations. All the bathroom units for the residential element of the scheme have been pre-fabricated in Poland and will be installed as ‘pods’ in the finished shell, showcasing Ocon’s expertise in the use of modern construction methods.
Editor’s Note
Phase 1 of Chettles Yard is one of three student accommodation projects that Ocon has handed over during Summer 2009. The three projects in Sheffield and Loughborough combined have seen the company deliver a total of more than 1,500 residential units.
Ocon has now built more student accommodation than any other contractor in the UK, delivering over 8000 bedrooms in 4 years.