Willmott Dixon tops out £48.8m London based university development
Willmott Dixon has reached the topping out stage on the £48.8 million School of Business and Management building at the Queen Mary University of London Mile End campus, marking a key construction milestone on one of the contractor’s most technically challenging projects in the capital.
The seven-storey, 6,700 sq m development is being delivered on a constrained site between the Regent’s Canal and an operational railway line in Tower Hamlets. Due for completion in 2027, the project is the second scheme Willmott Dixon has delivered for Queen Mary University in less than two years.
Designed by Nicholas Hare Architects, the building will replace the university’s existing Business School accommodation in the Francis Bancroft Building, providing expanded teaching, learning and research facilities for around 3,000 students and 100 academic staff.
Constrained construction site requires complex delivery planning
The development has required careful planning throughout construction due to the restricted nature of the site, with the canal on one side and a railway line running beneath the development.
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These constraints have influenced crane locations, delivery logistics and construction sequencing while allowing the surrounding university campus to remain fully operational throughout the build.
The lower four floors will provide lecture rooms, classrooms, breakout areas and study spaces, while the upper levels will accommodate academic offices and postgraduate facilities.
The building will also provide a permanent home for the Queen Mary Legal Advice Centre, which offers free legal advice to communities across east London through undergraduate and postgraduate law students working under the supervision of qualified lawyers.
Richard Poulter, Managing Director for Willmott Dixon in the South, said: “Topping out is the point where the shape of a building becomes clear, and at Queen Mary that has taken careful planning.
“The site sits between the canal and a railway line, which has shaped everything from crane positioning to how we sequence deliveries, and the team have worked through those constraints without disrupting the campus around them.
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“This is our second project for Queen Mary in under two years, following the Informatics Teaching Laboratory on the same campus. When this building opens in 2027 it will give the School of Business and Management the space it has outgrown, and give the university’s Legal Advice Centre a permanent home in the community it serves.”
Project targets BREEAM Excellent and low-energy performance
The new building is targeting a BREEAM Excellent rating and is being delivered as a Low Energy Transformation Initiative (LETI) Pioneer Project, with a focus on low-energy building design.
The scheme also includes landscaped terraces and a green roof designed to enhance biodiversity and improve the public realm within the dense urban campus.
Professor Colin Bailey CBE, President and Principal of Queen Mary University of London, said: “It is fantastic to see our new Business School building reach this significant milestone in its development.
This investment in our infrastructure, along with multiple other projects, are testament to our commitment to providing our students and staff with state-of-the-art facilities in which to learn, educate and carry out world-leading research and exemplifies our vision of opening the doors of opportunity through excellence.
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“I look forward to the building officially opening next year and to seeing our staff, students and the wider community benefit from it.”
Willmott Dixon expands higher education portfolio
The Business School follows Willmott Dixon’s recently completed Informatics Teaching Laboratory on the same Mile End campus, which opened earlier this year after being delivered through the SCAPE Construction framework.
That project involved the retrofit and extension of an existing building, retaining its original concrete frame while adding two additional storeys using a hybrid steel and timber structure to reduce embodied carbon.
The redevelopment increased capacity from 260 to 450 student places and incorporated photovoltaic panels, air source heat pumps and a green roof.
The Queen Mary schemes form part of Willmott Dixon’s growing portfolio of education projects, which also includes the £92 million College of North West London campus at Wembley Park, the first phase of Coleg Gwent’s Crosskeys Campus redevelopment in Newport, a student village for the University of Staffordshire and Bridgend College’s new town centre campus in South Wales.
