Royal Visit to Mark Opening of Landmark Building at BGU

HRH the Duke of Gloucester will visit Bishop Grosseteste University in Lincoln next week to officially open the university’s latest new building.

The £2.2 million extension to Constance Stewart Hall, which has created a new landmark building at the junction of Newport and Longdales Road, will be opened on Thursday 6^thJuly.

The works have doubled the size of the teaching block and involved building a steel-framed structure on top of part of the original building to give the university an additional seven teaching spaces set over two floors.

This approach of building over an existing structure means that BGU will significantly increase its teaching space capacity without increasing the building’s overall footprint, which helps to maintain the green and open feel of the campus.

During his visit to Lincoln on 6^th July the Duke of Gloucester will also officially open the Battles and Dynasties Exhibition at The Collection.

At BGU he will be introduced to dignitaries including the Bishop of Lincoln, the Right Reverend Christopher Lowson; the Mayor of Lincoln, Councillor Chris Burke; Lincoln’s MP Karen Lee; the Vice Chancellor of Bishop Grosseteste University, the Reverend Canon Professor Peter Neil; and the university’s Chancellor, Dame Judith Mayhew Jonas.

On a tour of the campus the Duke will visit the university’s business centre BG Futures, the Victorian chapel and the new Centre for Enhancement in Learning and Teaching which opened in March.

He will then officially open the new extension at Constance Stewart Hall by unveiling a plaque at approximately 2.45pm.

A bold statement

“This iconic addition to our estate really makes a bold statement in uphill Lincoln that BGU is an outward-facing institution,” said the Reverend Canon Professor Peter Neil, Vice Chancellor of Bishop Grosseteste University.

“It’s further evidence of our ongoing commitment to invest in our teaching resources to ensure our students continue to have an outstanding experience.”

Steve Deville, Director of Resources at BGU, said: “This fantastic new building reinforces BGU’s commitment to invest in our students and their learning experience.

“This building is to be opened just a few months after our new Centre for Enhancement in Learning and Teaching facility and will provide students with flexible teaching spaces and state-of-the-art facilities to aid their learning.”

The new teaching spaces will incorporate moveable partition walls, increasing their flexibility, meaning that they can be used not only for teaching but also for a variety of functions and events.

Delivered by Lincoln-based architects LK2 and local construction company Robert Woodhead Ltd, the project was carried out in two phases and saw a 7,770 square foot extension added to the Constance Stewart Hall to accommodate new teaching space.

The extension is supported by an impressive steel framework made from locally sourced steel and erected by Robert Woodhead Ltd. Throughout the project, contractors pledged to use local resources wherever possible.

The project was procured through the empa framework which is managed by Scape Group.

The development of the new building on campus was an opportunity to enhance the graduate attributes of BGU students, who were able to gain valuable work experience on the project with Robert Woodhead Ltd.