Leicester’s multi-million pound Centre for Medicine has been shortlisted for two regional construction awards.
The £42m building at the University of Leicester will take on competition across the county at the upcoming ProCon Awards in both the Large Non-Residential and Sustainable Development categories.
Contractor Willmott Dixon, alongside Associated Architects, Ramboll Building Services, Bidwells, Gleeds, CouchPerryWilkes and Passivhaus verifiers Warm, worked together with the University to deliver the building, which has been certified as the largest non-residential Passivhaus in the UK – meeting the strictest of environmental standards to create an incredibly eco-friendly building.
The building was recently recognised at the Insider East Midlands Property Dinner Awards where it was awarded Sustainable Development of the Year.
James Elliment, operations manager at Willmott Dixon, said: “Gaining Passivhaus accreditation is really tough and as a project team we all worked together, along with the University, to deliver what really is a fantastic facility both in terms of its sustainability credentials and the modern teaching and learning spaces for staff and students.
“The Centre for Medicine really is a pioneering project within the higher education sector and one that we are incredibly proud of.”
The building comprises a number of environmental features including a green wall made up of 75,000 individual plants to CTB blinds that track the sun and automatically close to prevent solar gain as well as a ground to air heat exchange system and solar PV panels.
Researchers, staff and students will, for the first time, be brought together after being spread across multiple sites in the city as the Centre transforms medical teaching and improve the lives of many patients in the region and beyond.
Nick Heath, operations director for Willmott Dixon in the East Midlands, added: “The Centre for Medicine is an incredibly eco-friendly building but one that did not come without its challenges, so we are very proud that it has been shortlisted for two ProCon awards this year.”
Last month (Sept), Willmott Dixon collected the Sustainable Development of Year award at the East Midlands Property Dinner and will also compete against projects across the UK in the Sustainable Project of the Year category at the Building magazine awards in November.
Winners will be announced at the ProCon awards on 17 November at the King Power Stadium in Leicester.
