Skip to main content

Key Facts

  • Client Name:

    University College London

  • Principal Contractor:
    MACE Ltd
  • Architect:

    Nicholas Hare Architects

  • Address:

    27-28 Gordon Square

    London

    WC1H 0AH

  • Value of Works:

    £1,950,000

  • Start Date:

    July 2018

  • End Date:

    December 2018

Project Description

The new Student Centre is a brand-new building, designed from the ground up with student needs and the student experience at its heart. It provides practical support with a new Student Enquiries Centre and 1,000 new study spaces, radically improving the way students move and learn on campus.

Swift Crafted led the carpentry, joinery and fit-out package under a GC Works 1 (NEC-based): Design and Build subcontract, testing our ability to achieve the highest level of quality in the shortest space of time. During the busiest stage of the project, Swift Crafted employed over 55 carpenters working across 8 different floors on various workfaces – our forward-thinking site management team worked around the clock to ensure the project was completed in time for Christmas.

Swift Crafted collaborated with the architects, Nicholas Hare, to design an American White Oak themed interior, within a fair-faced concrete backdrop, focusing around acoustic wall and ceiling panelling to maximise the quality of student study spaces.

All timber was sustainably sourced directly from a range of suppliers across our international supply chain. We managed the design process throughout the project with particular emphasis on lead-in times – cutting our typical manufacturing period substantially in order to achieve the tight construction programme. The most challenging element of the project was the integration with the detailed MEP package – though well-planned Revit models assisted with this difficult level of interfacing.

The sustainably designed and built New Student Centre is a focal point for study, events and student life - an essential space to think, explore, collaborate, discover and challenge – a project Swift Crafted are proud to associate themselves with.

Scope of Works

Joinery & Fit-out

  • Slatted and Veneered timber acoustic wall linings

  • Topakustik® perforated sound absorbing acoustic wall panels

  • Demountable acoustic slatted timber ceiling systems

  • Skirtings, window boards & blind boxes

  • Internal timber and laminate doorsets

  • Glazed atrium screens & slatted wall linings

  • Bespoke furniture (tea points, worktops, food preps, storage walls, café servery)

  • Reception desk & student enquiries desks

  • Glass display cases

  • WC fit-out (IPS, back paited glass, mirrors, trims, group 2 fittings)

UCL Gallery