Build 2016 Construction & Engineering Awards

2016 Construction & Engineering Awards Build 77 rbanest’s schemes are concentrated in Zone 1 of Central Lon- don, and the company currently has five operational properties, with one under construction. Each scheme is approached with a high standard of design and sustainability criteria and they have all been recognised for their architectural merit. Urbanest Westminster Bridge Road opened in September 2015 and boasts unparalleled views across to the City of London, whilst compromising of; 1,143 student bedrooms, a 65,000ft² sixth form college, a swimming pool with a fully equipped health suite, a 4,000ft² Incubator facility (which will be leased to We Are Waterloo), and has 5,000ft² of common rooms over-looking the House of Parliament, the London Eye, the River Thames. The London School of Economics has leased close to 500 of the bedrooms on a long term basis, whilst there are almost 300 students from King’s College, London living within the building. It was designed by Stirling Prize winners Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, with the building’s height and mass- ing being sensitively crafted according to statutorily protected World Heritage views. Internally, the upper floors have been configured to reduce actual and perceived corridor length, while a central atrium on the lower levels brings light into the college and crown a generous social space. Every scheme is designed having learnt the lessons from previous Urbanest projects. The development and construction team spend a considerable amount of design time with their operational colleagues to learn what has been successful previously, in everything from bedrooms and communal spaces to the management back of house facilities. Despite the company getting older, their customers remain the same age, so they work hard to ensure that their new schemes are designed to allow for the latest living, design and IT trends. Input from their operational and management teams, that spend every day of the year working in their buildings and interacting with students, is therefore critical in achieving this. Urbanest develop student accommodation in unparalleled locations across central London that are of the highest architectural merit, complimented by sector leading management and customer service for their residents, university partners and other stakeholders. They have recently started construction on Ur- banest Vauxhall. This is a 32 storey development of 454 student bedrooms, that forms part of the wider Vauxhall Square Masterplan, due for delivery in advance of the 2018/2019 academic year. This will be Urbanest’s sixth operational prop- erty, taking the number of student beds under management to 3,000. Best for Student Accommodation Development - UK Urbanest was formed 8 years ago with the aim of purchasing, developing, managing and owning student housing in London and Australia. In London, the company is on course to develop 5,000 beds by 2020. U CE160030 Company: Urbanest Email: [email protected] Website: http://uk.urbanest.com/ Address: 55 Strand, London, WC2N 5LR