Saunders has an unparalleled record of successfully completed projects for Bournemouth University which goes back many years. This includes the award-winning, £10.5m design & build 6-storey student centre for interactive study under the SCAPE Framework, complete with a bridge link to the earlier library also designed by Saunders. For more on this click here.

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The Student Centre provides a new home for the Student Union and a focus for student extra-curricular activity including student radio and media studios, a student advice centre, student café and social learning spaces as well as strong links to the adjoining library and sports centre.

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The site was very constrained between the existing buildings but also very prominent at the heart of the campus. This led to the concept of a tower with an open central feature stair providing important visual and physical connections vertically through the building which encourages the students to use all of the six floors and allows natural light from a large octagonal rooflight to penetrate right through the centre. The fully glazed elevation facing the central campus courtyard provides visibility to the activities within but being north facing means it does not suffer from uncontrolled solar gains. The interior design references Bournemouth’s unique seaside location and uses colour to help students navigate the building.

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The building achieved a BREEAM Excellent rating by virtue of the use of sustainable design initiatives including ground source heat pumps, photo-voltaics, exposed concrete structure for thermal mass, natural ventilation, solar shading on it’s southern elevation and green roofs.