UPP is rising above the recent doom and gloom as it celebrates another spectacular year with occupancy levels of more than 99 per cent across its portfolio of university partners.
Media Centre
24/03/2010 - UPP & King’s College London Get the Go-Ahead in Southwark
King’s College London, working with University Partnerships Programme (UPP), was last night granted planning permission for a major scheme that will deliver modern and sustainable accommodation for its students. Much of the existing accommodation at the Champion Hill site in Southwark, South London, will be demolished to make way for 740 new or refurbished eco-friendly rooms. The magnificent Victorian ‘Platanes’ building on site will be retained and refurbished.
This new accommodation will reduce energy consumption and ensure substantial CO2 savings. The scheme, which received unanimous consent from the Council’s Planning Committee, will deliver significant improvements to the environmental performance of the site, as well as an increase in green amenity space. Photovoltaic panels on the roofs, a combined heat and power installation, low energy fittings, and heat recovery systems will cut energy consumption levels and help to reduce CO2 emissions by up to 77 percent per student.
Rainwater recycling and a sustainable urban drainage system linked to a series of swales and an ornamental pond will reduce surface water run off twenty fold and, combined with some 30 extra trees that will be planted and additional green spaces, will increase opportunities for wildlife. In addition, construction materials will be chosen on the basis of their sustainability. Timber frames, for example, will be sourced from sustainable and managed forests, which will reduce the carbon footprint of the scheme and effectively ensure that the development is zero carbon for 10 years.
The Grade II Listed ‘Platanes’ building on the site will be sympathetically restored and upgraded but left substantially unchanged and King’s College London has worked closely with local groups, Southwark Council, and independent architectural advisers to make sure that the scheme complements its surroundings. The bricks that will be used will be of similar colour to those on Platanes and white render, which matches the treatment of many features of the 19th Century building’s elevation, will also be utilised.
The new development will bring a much needed increase in capacity for King’s College London, which has over 20,000 students but only 2,653 bedspaces, meaning it can currently provide accommodation for less than 20 percent of its student body.
Professor Rick Trainor, Principal of King’s College London said:
“We are delighted that we have received the go-ahead for this vital project. The redevelopment of the site will help to meet the College’s need for more good quality, affordable and sustainable accommodation. Schemes such as these will allow the College to go on attracting the best students from the UK and across the world.”
Sean O’Shea, Chief Executive of UPP added:
“We are proud to have helped such a prestigious university as King’s bring forward an exciting, green scheme that will provide much needed high quality accommodation for the College’s students. Sustainability is core to our offering and we lead the higher education sector in delivering energy efficient campus infrastructure. Developments of the kind proposed here have won many awards for their eco credentials and we are confident that King’s scheme will be an award winner too.”
King’s College London is ranked as one of the world’s top 25 universities. It is heavily involved in the Borough of Southwark through its connection with King’s College Hospital, the Institute of Psychiatry and Guy’s Hospital. The scheme will bring considerable benefit for the local area in terms of investment, including a refurbishment of the local Camberwell Baths and upgrades to local public transport infrastructure, including Denmark Hill railway station.
ENDS
For more information, please contact:
Ben Russell, Martha Dalton, Jefferson Communications
Tel: +44 (0)20 7256 8912
Email:
Alex Bevis, King’s College London
Tel: +44 (0)20 7848 3238
Email:
Notes to Editors
1. The scheme will see the construction of 678 bedrooms, up from the current 464, and refurbishment of 62 others across four buildings. Four new courtyard spaces will be created, with a piazza at the centre and an ornamental pond enclosed by the western accommodation block. 274 covered cycle spaces will be included, with provision made for an additional 118 spaces if required in the future. There will be 12 car parking spaces, including 7 spaces for disabled badge holders, 4 for staff and visitors and one for occasional use. The scheme is designed and specified to achieve ‘Secured by Design’ accreditation and has been given a BREEAM pre-assessment rating of ‘Excellent’.
2. King's College London
King's College London is one of the top 25 universities in the world (Times Higher Education 2009) and the fourth oldest in England. A research-led university based in the heart of London, King's has nearly 23,000 students (of whom more than 8,600 are graduate students) from nearly 140 countries, and some 5,500 employees. King's is in the second phase of a £1 billion redevelopment programme which is transforming its estate.
King's has an outstanding reputation for providing world-class teaching and cutting-edge research. In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise for British universities, 23 departments were ranked in the top quartile of British universities; over half of our academic staff work in departments that are in the top 10 per cent in the UK in their field and can thus be classed as world leading. The College is in the top seven UK universities for research earnings and has an overall annual income of nearly £450 million.
King's has a particularly distinguished reputation in the humanities, law, the sciences (including a wide range of health areas such as psychiatry, medicine and dentistry) and social sciences including international affairs. It has played a major role in many of the advances that have shaped modern life, such as the discovery of the structure of DNA and research that led to the development of radio, television, mobile phones and radar. It is the largest centre for the education of healthcare professionals in Europe; no university has more Medical Research Council Centres.
King's College London and Guy's and St Thomas', King's College Hospital and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trusts are part of King's Health Partners. King's Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre (AHSC) is a pioneering global collaboration between one of the world's leading research-led universities and three of London's most successful NHS Foundation Trusts, including leading teaching hospitals and comprehensive mental health services. For more information, visit: http://www.kingshealthpartners.org.
3. University Partnerships Programme (UPP)
University Partnerships Programme (UPP) is the trading name of UPP Group Holdings Ltd. and its subsidiaries. It specialises in funding, developing and operating student accommodation and campus infrastructure schemes as well as delivering asset management services. It has invested almost £1 billion in the Higher Education sector and plans to invest a further £1 billion over the next two years.
Page 1 of 1 pages