A fit-out and refurbishment specialist contractor has completed the £2.2 million conversion and refurbishment of a former sports centre at the University of Warwick.
Willmott Dixon Interiors has transformed the 42,500 sq ft building into a new facility for student examinations and additional timetabled teaching.
It will provide collaborative space for members of Warwick’s Innovation Group, as well as businesses, academics, students, investors and alumni.
The project is the first to be delivered by Willmott Dixon Interiors as part of the University of Warwick’s five-year Building Refurbishment Framework.
Phil Crowther, director at Willmott Dixon Interiors, said: “We’re pleased to have completed work on a project that has reinvented a previously under-utilised space at the University of Warwick. Huge thanks must go to our dedicated team, who successfully delivered the project whilst adhering to social distancing measures. Our business has enjoyed a strong and collaborative partnership with the university over several years. We’re very much looking forward to furthering that relationship through the many exciting projects that are planned to take place across the university campus as part of the framework agreement.”
In addition to the main works, the project generated a social return on investment of £363,000 through local spending, local labour and added social value.
Willmott Dixon Interiors’ on site project team invested over 2,000 hours in employability and careers training in a range of local schools and took part in the company’s regional prison programme to support the rehabilitation of ex-offenders. Other social value initiatives aimed at tackling youth unemployment, the rehabilitation of ex-offenders and boosting careers support in local schools, generated £134,000 in added value.
Anna Koukoullis, head of social value at Willmott Dixon Interiors said: “Our internal culture is one of purpose beyond profit. It’s important to everyone at Willmott Dixon Interiors, that our projects provide meaningful social and economic benefit for our customers and their communities. We’re proud to have delivered several social value initiatives during the lifetime of this project that will leave a lasting and positive legacy.”
Willmott Dixon is delivering the last phase of a £33 million investment in Warwick Arts Centre, which will create the region’s leading cultural centre when complete in early 2021. The company is also constructing a new multi-million pound medical research centre at the University of Warwick’s Gibbet Hill campus, which will bring together up to 300 biomedical researchers to fight human diseases.
Based at Two Snowhill in Birmingham, Willmott Dixon Interiors is one of the UK’s largest specialists in high-quality interior works up to a value of £30 million. It is responsible for the delivery of nationwide projects across the commercial, hotel, leisure, retail, education and health sectors.