VC starts demolition of old sports hall
Mon, 10 Feb 2014 11:43:00 GMT
It has been a landmark local building for decades, but the University’s former sports hall – now superseded by a stunning new structure – is to be demolished.
The University’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Bob Cryan, was keen to start the process, so he took the controls of the machine that took the first bite from the old hall, which was closed at the end of 2013. It has now been replaced by the new £22.5 million Student Central building, which includes greatly enhanced and expanded sports and recreation facilities and student support services.
The demolition of the 1960s sports hall will probably take until the end of March. Proximity to other buildings, including Student Central, plus the busy Aspley roundabout, means that contractors GB Building Solutions will take the hall down piecemeal.
However, said the University’s Deputy Director of Estates and Facilities, Alan Johnson, most of the steel frame and cladding plus the timber flooring of the old sports hall can be saved and recycled.
“It was a good building for its time, but it has now been superseded. Student Central is bigger and has bang up-to-date facilities, plus a dance studio, which the old sports hall never had,” said Mr Johnson.
When the old hall is demolished, the empty site could be a candidate for future development, but in the meantime it will be landscaped. This means that the new Student Central – with a mesh cladding that is dramatically illuminated at night – will for the first time be fully visible from all angles.
