Archive
Building The H B Allen Centre
We have been tracking the progress of The H B Allen Centre project since November 2015. You can view the demolition of the existing buildings, the excavation of the enormous foundations and basement space, including the challenge of holding up Sarah Acland House on piles while excavating underneath, and the full construction process.
Friday 7 June 2019
The H B Allen Centre quad is looking splendid with its new cover of lawn, which was expertly laid in May by the same company responsible for the re-turfing of Liddon. All of the green spaces at the Centre are coming along beautifully under Garden and Grounds Manager Ade Roche’s exacting supervision.
Monday 21 January 2019
Most of the scaffolding and the cranes have now come down at The H B Allen Centre. The Commission Air timelapse camera has reached the end of its operation, but more images of the site will be available as areas reach completion.
Monday 5 November 2018
The timelapse video for October is now available, courtesy of BAM and Commission Air.
Friday 5 October 2018
The handover of the H B Allen Centre has begun. The contractor, BAM, has started a phased delivery of the building. The first phase, which provides 120 graduate rooms in the south and west wings, is complete and the first students moved into their new accommodation on 3rd October. The remaining residential accommodation will be delivered in two further phases over the next seven weeks, and the graduate centre should be fully operational in Hilary Term 2019. Research and commercial facilities, including the Woodstock Road Building, are due to be completed early next year. The contractor expects the final handover of the completed development to take place in March 2019.
Wednesday 3 October 2018
The timelapse video for September is now available, courtesy of BAM and Commission Air.
Tuesday 18 September 2018
The timelapse video for August is now available, courtesy of BAM and Commission Air.
Monday 21 August 2018
The timelapse video for July is now available, courtesy of BAM and Commission Air.
Tuesday 17 July 2018
The timelapse video for June is now available, courtesy of BAM and Commission Air.
Friday 29 June 2018
Internal fitting out is progressing swiftly at the H B Allen Centre site, with the student study bedrooms (below) on schedule to house their new occupants in October.
Monday 4 June 2018
The timelapse video for May is now available, courtesy of BAM and Commission Air.
Monday 14 May 2018
The timelapse video for April is now available, courtesy of BAM and Commission Air.
Friday 13 April 2018
The timelapse video for March is now available, courtesy of BAM and Commission Air.
Friday 16 March 2018
The timelapse video for February is now available, courtesy of BAM and Commission Air.
Thursday 22 February 2018
The timelapse video for January is now available, courtesy of BAM and Commission Air.
Monday 15 January 2018
The full timelapse video for December is now available, courtesy of BAM and Commission Air.
Friday 15 December 2017
The full timelapse video for November is now available, courtesy of BAM and Commission Air.
Monday 6 November 2017
The full timelapse video for October is now available, courtesy of BAM and Commission Air.
Wednesday 4 October 2017
A topping out ceremony was held at the H B Allen Centre to mark construction reaching its highest point. The lift shaft in the south-west corner of the quad was completed by H B Allen Charitable Trust trustee Peter Shone (Keble 1969), who was then presented a ceremonial trowel by BAM Construction Director Anthony Nagle. A group of Keble members, donors, representatives from Rick Mather Architects, BAM Construction and contractors celebrated the occasion with drinks on a specially prepared area at the top of the south wing.
Monday 2 October 2017
The full timelapse video for September is now available, courtesy of BAM and Commission Air.
Friday 1 September 2017
Timelapse footage from the 23 Banbury Road building is now available up to 23 August.
Wednesday 9 August 2017
The full timelapse video for the month of July is available.
Friday 4 August 2017
Excavation under Acland House is now complete, along with the rest of the bulk dig – a milestone in the H B Allen Centre project.
Monday 3 July 2017
Work on the reinforced concrete frame is progressing swiftly, with the second level already under construction. Timelapse footage showing the progress during the month of June is now available, courtesy of BAM and Commission Air.
Thursday 18 May 2017
Timelapse footage from the 23 Banbury Road building is now available up to 15 May.
Friday 21 April 2017
Excavation underneath Acland House has begun. Over the next three weeks, the full set of piles beneath the building will be exposed before the basement is constructed.
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Tuesday 4 April 2017
Timelapse footage for March, courtesy of BAM and Commission Air, is now available.
Monday 3 April 2017
A large proportion of the excavation to form the basement is now complete, with nearly 65,000 m³ of dug material removed from the site. Stabilising work for Acland House is also reaching conclusion before excavation below it commences later this month. The temporary stools supporting the building can be seen in the second and third photo. These will be integrated into a concrete slab supported via the pilling underneath the building.
Friday 10 March 2017
Both tower cranes have now arrived on site and are fully operational. They are situated on the north west and south east of the site. Photos taken from the top of the cranes are available on the BAM Facebook project page.
Wednesday 1 March 2017
Timelapse footage from a new perspective is now available courtesy of BAM and Commission Air. The footage from February is available below.
Thursday 16 February 2017
Excavation at the site has now started in earnest. Here is a video and some photos of the action.
Friday 6 January 2017
Timelapse footage from the 23 Banbury Rd building is now available up to the 3rd of January.
Friday 9 December 2016
Timelapse footage from the 23 Banbury Rd building is now available up to the 9th of December.
Tuesday 1 November 2016
Timelapse footage from the 23 Banbury Rd building is now available up to 31 October.
Thursday 27 October 2016
The demolition stage of the project is now complete and the first construction equipment is arriving on site, including the impressive piling rig, pictured in the image below.
Wednesday 5 October 2016
We have now installed a second timelapse camera looking north toward Acland House from the 23 Banbury Road building. You can watch the footage (from 22 August) here.
Friday 16 September 2016
The following images show the demolition progress from the south. The images were taken from the Department of Materials, 21 Banbury Road.
26 May
11 July
28 July
1 September
Monday 8 August 2016
Watch the demolition highlights of the South Wing of the Acland Hospital, which took place on the 14th of July. The footage is courtesy of Dave King, Buildings Support at the Department of Materials, 21 Banbury Road.
Thursday 4 August 2016
Timelapse footage from the Thom Engineering building is now available up to the 4th of August 2016.
Wednesday 3 August 2016
Demolition of the Acland buildings is now almost complete, with only the east wing of the former hospital remaining.
Thursday 28 July 2016
What a difference two months make.
Can you spot the difference in these two images of the Acland gatehouse taken in May 2016 (top) and July 2016 (bottom)?
Friday 1 July 2016
Demolition is progressing swiftly, with the whole of the west wing and gatehouse of the Acland already down.
The south wing will follow in the coming month.
Tuesday 7 June 2016
Timelapse footage from the Thom Engineering building is now available up to the 7th of June 2016.
Thursday 2 June 2016
College welcomed the Vice-Chancellor Professor Louise Richardson FRSE to the Ground-breaking Ceremony for the new H B Allen Centre. Anthony Nagle (Construction Director, BAM) presented the engraved ceremonial spade to Mr Peter Shone Trustee of the H B Allen Charitable Trust which has made a capital grant of £25million in support of the project. The Vice-Chancellor put the spade to good use and broke the ground at the old Acland Hospital site.
Wednesday 25 May 2016
Demolition on the Acland Hospital site has now begun. Watch the start of the action here.
Wednesday 23 March 2016
Although the main contract doesn’t start until July, enabling works are already underway at the Acland site, as this picture from a time-lapse camera mounted at the top of the Engineering building shows. Archaeologists have already excavated the ‘quad’ lawn, where only the bones of two horses and some medicine bottles were found. They are now at work on the front drive, whilst next door in 23 Banbury Road (where the five cars are parked – this building is the one part of the site that is not included in the main project) there is a growing pile of debris from the strip-out of the upper floors. This is because the Mobile Robotics Group will be occupying the whole building. We plan to put a second time-lapse camera in 23 Banbury Road, which should give close-up views of the project site.
Tuesday 01 March 2016
Since the announcement of the £25million donation from the H B Allen Charitable Trust, plans to complete the new development by October 2018 have been rapidly taking shape. The City Council has granted planning consent for the development of a full lower ground floor under the quad at the new H B Allen Centre. The main contractor, BAM, has provided this fascinating two minute animated model of the demolition and construction process. The excavation of the basement across the whole site and in particular under the listed Acland House is remarkable. Archaeological surveys will commence shortly and we aim to break ground in early July. We are installing time-lapse cameras onsite and will keep you updated with progress throughout the construction process via the website.
Friday 27 November 2015
The College is to receive a £25million capital grant from the H B Allen Charitable Trust.
This represents the largest single donation in the 145-year history of the College and the largest grant ever awarded by the Trust.
In combination with many other philanthropic gifts and a forty year loan, the grant will enable our long-planned major development of the Acland site to proceed. This is a momentous point in the history of the College.
The H B Allen Trust was founded by Miss Heather Allen in 1987. She was a philanthropist with multiple interests. Having made a plan that will probably result in the Trust being wound up by the end of 2020, the Trustees thought it appropriate to make a landmark grant that will stand as a fitting memorial to her philanthropy. The new development will bear Miss Allen’s name.
The H B Allen Centre will house 230 graduate students, more than double our current capacity. There will also be space for research and related spinout activities, in conjunction with Keble’s Advanced Studies Centre. There will be a 120-seat lecture theatre, seminar rooms, an exhibition space, a café, a gym and facilities to house visiting academics. One of the occupants of the research space will be Professor Paul Newman’s Mobile Robotics Group and we are currently in discussion with another significant, potential tenant with strong connections to the University.
The design has been undertaken by Rick Mather Architects. Construction itself will start in July 2016 with the demolition of the existing buildings and we aim to open the new development in October 2018.
The Warden, Sir Jonathan Phillips, said,” The gift from the H B Allen Trust and the others we have received are an extraordinary demonstration of support for the College and we are very grateful for this generosity. The Trust’s commitment to the project will enable it to proceed to completion well in advance of the College’s 150th anniversary in 2020 and is at least comparable with the benefactions which contributed to its foundation.”
The fundraising Campaign has so far attracted £35.2m in gifts and pledges for the construction project and a further £6.7m for academic posts, scholarships and research.