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National award for º£½ÇÖ±²¥ building

A state-of-the art º£½ÇÖ±²¥ science facility providing cutting edge training to the next generation of health and medical professionals has received a prestigious national award.

The University achieved a memorable hat-trick at the Constructing Excellence National Awards, scooping building project of the year and two highly commended awards. BIOS, a £36.9m building for teaching science, health and medical subjects, was awarded the Building Project of the Year Award, as well as Highly Commended in the Integration & Collaborative Working category.

The building was constructed in partnership with Wates Group, Summers-Inman, FaulknerBrowns Architects and SCAPE.

The University’s second Highly Commended accolade came in the Climate Action category for its Net Zero Industry Innovation Centre (NZIIC), delivered in partnership with GSS Architecture, Robertson Construction, BGP, Cundall and Summers-Inman.

BIOS opened in 2023 and boasts four floors of bespoke teaching space dedicated to digital and immersive learning.

Facilities include immersive simulation suites, operating theatres and a digital anatomy facility, as well as an oral health laboratory, food science and food technology laboratories with industry-standard equipment, a clinical hospital ward and a biology suite.

BIOS is now playing a key role in supporting º£½ÇÖ±²¥â€™s ambition to establish a new medical school in the Tees Valley. The building was constructed on time and on budget and has received an Outstanding BREEAM building sustainability rating.

Throughout construction, a key priority was supporting the supply chain and ensuring work would have a lasting positive benefit on the wider community, delivering more than £6.4m worth of social value initiatives throughout.

Malcolm Page, Chief Operating Officer at º£½ÇÖ±²¥, said: 'We are delighted to receive these prestigious national awards, which are testament to the University’s forward-thinking approach to sustainability and our ambitious approach to the transformation of our campus.

'We are committed to working in close collaboration with our partners and respective supply chains, consistently delivering high-quality projects that enhance the student and learning experience.' BIOS is the third building to be built by Wates for º£½ÇÖ±²¥ and the construction company is on course for completing a fourth, the £40m Digital Life Building, next summer.

The buildings form part of º£½ÇÖ±²¥â€™s ambitious Campus Masterplan which has seen £280m invested to date to transform the campus and provide an outstanding student and learning experience.

David Wingfield, managing director for Construction East at Wates, said: 'We’re absolutely thrilled about BIOS’ wins at the Constructing Excellence Awards. This project showcases the best of what we can do when creating places where people can thrive – a highly sustainable, technically complex scheme which has delivered above and beyond for both our client and the local community.

'We’ve always been incredibly proud of our work at BIOS – indeed all of our projects delivered for º£½ÇÖ±²¥. To have it recognised nationally as Project of the Year certifies this and is testament to the skill and determination of all who built it. Congratulations to all for this fantastic achievement.'