02/01/2013
Work will start in January on a new £4.3m student residence on the university's Longdales Road campus in Lincoln which will replace older accommodation.
The two main contractors are Caledonian Modular in Carlton-on-Trent and Trent Valley Construction in South Hykeham. Other local businesses will be involved in supplying and installing specialist equipment such as alarms and CCTV.
"Once this new development is complete we will have 126 en suite rooms on campus, which we haven't had before," said Stephen Deville, Director of Resources at Bishop Grosseteste University.
"We're always happy to use local contractors and we're very glad that Caledonian and Trent Valley put in such high-quality tenders on this occasion."
Mr Deville added that while the halls of residence are being improved, the number of undergraduate students at the university will remain the same.
"Strict government controls on student numbers at all universities mean we have no plans to increase undergraduate student numbers for the foreseeable future," he said.
"However, this new development will give us a good mix of accommodation to offer to students and improve our ability to accommodate conference visitors when the students are not here."
As part of the project at least one existing hall of residence on campus will be demolished. The development should be completed in time for the new intake of students in September 2013.
The new hall of residence is the latest in a series of significant investments at Bishop Grosseteste University. In the summer BGU's library was extended and given a new name: the Cornerstone Building is now home to Library Services and the Student Support and Learning Advice teams.
The library houses 135,000 resources including books, journals, audio-visual resources (DVDs, CDs), e-books and a renowned Teaching Resources Collection including children's books, resource packs and puppet bags.
Meanwhile the university's main entrance off Longdales Road has been remodelled and the reception area relocated to the Robert Hardy Building nearer the entrance. Work on the £250,000 project was completed earlier this month.