Willmott Dixon Interiors has handed over nearly 24,000 sq ft of newly refurbished office accommodation in Brighton & Hove that will become a new base for social care services in the region.
Work has been completed on the transformation of the former Portslade Community College sixth form centre in Mile Oak Road, Portslade on behalf of Brighton & Hove City Council.
Willmott Dixon Interiors has converted and refurbished the vacant building, including the delivery of modern office space, new M&E services and new access control.
Works included demolition of part of the existing site, external repairs and a full strip of the building. Structural alterations were completed to the north elevation using an external store to form new welfare facilities.
Council staff will relocate to the revamped facility from an existing site in Moulsecoomb, which has been earmarked for the development of more than 200 new council homes.
The refurbishment project was awarded through Orbis, a public sector partnership between East Sussex County Council, Surrey County Council and Brighton & Hove City Council. Its delivery has been accompanied by a coordinated series of community-based activities that have achieved a social return on investment of more than £2 million.
Highlights include a fully funded professional catering kitchen that fed local homeless and vulnerably housed residents and the delivery of a biodiversity initiative in collaboration with the council, local residents and supply chain partners.
Willmott Dixon Interiors and its supply chain also funded a £15,000 project to create a new sensory garden on the site, under the supervision of an ecology specialist. Bordered by more than 200 newly planted trees, it includes a new pond that will act as a hotspot for multiple species. There are also bat and bird boxes, hedgehog houses, bee bricks and a rich native wildflower seed bed to encourage a range of invertebrates.
Graham Shaw, managing director at Willmott Dixon Interiors, said: “We’re pleased to have had the opportunity to not only repurpose an existing building but to transform an entire site. We’ve worked closely with Brighton & Hove City Council to deliver modern, flexible and sustainable office accommodation that offers a range of work settings, including quiet and segregated spaces required by social care professionals.
“We’re incredibly proud of the positive impact we’ve made in the local community during the life of the project, not least in leaving the natural environment in a measurably better state.”
The project team included Willmott Dixon Interiors as main contractor and architect, Potter Raper as project manager and quantity surveyor, and services engineer, Paine Manwaring.
