GB Building Solutions has been awarded a £34 million student accommodation scheme for Kings College London.

The part new build, part refurbishment project, located close to their Denmark Hill Campus, will provide 74 bedrooms within an existing Grade II listed building and 643 bedrooms within four newly constructed buildings.

The new build scheme has been designed to target BREEAM 'Outstanding' which will be GB's fifth scheme designed to target this prestigious BREEAM rating. In order to achieve this rating the building will incorporate some unique features to reduce the consumption of energy and its impact on the surrounding environment.

The scheme is a fabric first approach which will be highly insulated, decreasing the need for bolt on technology and reducing the consumption of energy. The highly sustainable approach not only focuses on the performance of the building but also the wellbeing of the students. Large windows offer natural daylight, a heat recovery ventilation system will recover the heat generated from the building and deliver tempered fresh air reducing cost of heating the building, with high levels of task lighting. Energy monitors throughout will display the consumption of energy in the individual flat in comparison to the best performing flats, educating the students as to how their behaviours impact on the consumption of energy. Other sustainable technologies to compliment the fabric first approach will include PV panels and a combined heat and power plant.


Outside of the building the drainage system has been designed to incorporate a SUDS (sustainable urban drainage system) pond and swales to attenuate the rainwater and improve the local ecosystem. In addition there will be an external exercise route with equipment built into the hard landscaping and vegetable patches, with student education of how to live sustainably.

The GB project will be an exemplar BIM and soft landing scheme. The design is being carried out using BIM technologies that will give Kings College London a full working model to manage its assets on completion, transforming the design, construction and operation of the building way beyond current practice. Using this construction method has improved the building process and allows the building to be operated more effectively throughout its operational life.

GB will also incorporate soft landings so both designers and constructors stay involved with the building beyond its practical completion. In line with BSRIA soft landings process GB will carry out seasonal commissioning, plus planned and preventive maintenance to key plant for two years following handover ensuring the highly efficient buildings perform as well as expected and helping Kings College reduce the cost of the building in use.

(CD)