New foundations laid at Lichfield School of Art

Building specialist Linford Group has started work on the construction of a new building for Tamworth and Lichfield College's School of Art.

Building specialist Linford Group has started work on the GBP 3 million construction of a new building for Tamworth and Lichfield College's School of Art.

The latest phase in the ongoing development of Tamworth and Lichfield College will see a brand new building erected on the main Friary campus to accommodate the increasing number of students applying to its popular art faculty.

The new building will be built using steel frame construction with various elevation treatments, including facing bricks, render, and curtain walling.

Linford will also be installing full mechanical and electrical services, including an environmentally sound comfort cooling ventilation system.

With development space at a premium in the city-centre location the new art block will be built directly adjacent to existing college buildings.

This will create a smooth transition between buildings for the students and staff, but presents some logistical issues for Linford.

David Linford, executive chairman of Linford Group explained: "Just as a busy city centre location presents logistical issues to any building contractor, the restriction on space at the college site creates some technical issues that need to be carefully addressed".

""In particular, we are very careful to ensure that the impact on surrounding residents is kept to a minimum by restricting construction traffic to specific times of the day, while the use of a tower crane will limit the need for additional heavy machinery." The new building for Lichfield School of Art represents a considerable investment for Tamworth and Lichfield College and reflects the growing popularity of its courses".

"It will provide much needed capacity for the art faculty and free up space in the existing building for additional classrooms".

"As the School of Art building is finished towards the end of 2005, staff and students will move in, and Linford will begin the refurbishment of the old centre into new classrooms".

"Alison Churchill, Head of Lichfield School of Art at Tamworth and Lichfield College said: "We are extremely excited about the new building, it will provide our students with the facilities they deserve".

""As Linford has been the main contractor on so much of the building work at the college they understand the restraints of working on a busy campus and keep the day-to-day impact of the construction work on our students to the very minimum." In addition to the extensive construction work Linford will also develop the existing space around the buildings into a central courtyard for both students and lecturers.

Mr Linford continued: "Tamworth and Lichfield College has an excellent reputation both within the academic community and the people of Lichfield".

"The new centre will provide a fitting study and creative environment for one of the country's top art colleges.".

Back to top