New Universities Centre formally handed over

CONSTRUCTOR Thomas Vale has formally handed over a new university resource centre in Birmingham.

The Universities Centre at Innovation Birmingham is intended to act as a one-stop-shop facility for firms looks to work in partnership with some of the city’s brightest brains.

The building, over the open-air car park at the Holt Street campus, offers an additional 5,812 sq ft of enterprise space, with half dedicated to flexible co-working and the remainder purpose-designed for training sessions and events. It also boasts state-of-the-art communications equipment, with each of Birmingham’s five universities benefitting from high-definition video conferencing suites as part of the project.
 
The Universities Centre, which received a £2.5m grant from Greater Birmingham & Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership’s Local Growth Fund, is the second of five new developments totalling £30m planned on Innovation Birmingham Campus and quickly follows the completion of the 42,149 sq ft iCentrum building in March this year.
 
Thomas Vale, part of national construction and development business, Bouygues UK, began construction of the new centre in April and has delivered the project both on-time and on-budget, following a 29-week build programme.
 
David Hardman, chief executive of Innovation Birmingham, said: “It has been a very exciting year for the campus and Thomas Vale have played a major role in delivery of both the Universities Centre and iCentrum.
 
“The completion of the Universities Centre will be a fantastic addition, not only to the campus but also the wider region, as we strengthen our links with the city’s five universities and create opportunities for innovators and educators to actively engage.”
 
Craig Tatton, managing director at Thomas Vale, said: “We have been successfully working with Innovation Birmingham for a number of years now. Through early engagement with our client and supply chain partners we have been able to deliver two excellent schemes which will benefit both the universities and the start-ups in the region.”

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