Balfour Beatty has been awarded a £42m contract to design and build new student accommodation of 726 bedrooms for the University of Birmingham.

The contract to deliver the 'Chamberlain Halls' halls of residence involves the demolition and re-building of the existing Eden Tower and the build of a new 20-storey tower, together with three linear 'finger' buildings situated along Church Road in Edgbaston.

By fully deploying its range of capabilities, Balfour Beatty will deliver the project in just 100 weeks. The company will utilise BIM (Building Information Management) for the planning of the project, providing value-engineering and long term management solutions. Balfour Beatty Ground Engineering will carry out piling with Balfour Beatty Engineering Services, through its Modular Systems+ facility in Wednesbury, providing bespoke pre-fabricated mechanical and electrical units housing ducting, cabling and pipe-work for the building which can be installed quickly on-site further reducing the construction time. Furniture for the bedrooms and communal areas will be provided by Footprint Furniture, a Balfour Beatty company.


The building will meet the highest Government approved EPC 'A' category for energy efficiency through the use of brick cladding for insulation, a copper rainscreen and glazed curtain walling to reduce heat loss.

The contract award builds on Balfour Beatty's consistently strong performance in the student accommodation sector for which it has recently been awarded schemes at the University of Edinburgh, the University of Bangor and University of Exeter as well as for student accommodation providers Urbanest and Unite.

Construction is scheduled for completion in the winter of 2015.

(CD/JP)