RLB is QS on £3.3m UCL scheme

Consultant Rider Levett Bucknall has been awarded its first contract with University College London.

The £3.3m student union development will see two interlinking properties on Gower Street and Gower Place upgraded and remodelled to create three different student venues in the buildings.

The firm had been appointed QS on the UCL framework last year. The college is investing around £30m a year on capital projects at its campus.

The student union project will include the refurbishment of the ground and first floors of 23 Gower Place which was formerly the Barley Mow public house.

There will also be a new cafe/bar within the former bookshop in the adjacent Lewis Building at 134 to 136 Gower Street extending into the Gower Court Building to link all levels and creating a lightwell and circulation area.

The new student union will have a capacity for 420 people.

Farghana Peck, senior QS at RLB’s London office, said: “The student union development is a great opportunity for the QS team to demonstrate its skills and professionalism.”

Work on the development is scheduled to begin in January next year and is expected to complete in April in 2011.