The Sands/Durham University Business School
The Sands is a new £50m facility as part of Durham University Business School, spread over 1.4-hectare site in the centre of Durham.
The five-storey building, which was initially built for Durham County Council was acquired by Durham University and houses 2,300 students and staff members.
The building includes modern working spaces for staff and academics with the aim of appealing to leading businesses to work in collaboration with the university and its graduates.
Originally designed as a new office headquarters building for Durham County Council, which Desco provided the MEP services design for, the building has been redesigned internally to suit the educational needs of Durham’s business students. Some elements of the original design have remained, some have seen minor alterations, while other features were stripped out and redesigned.
To allow for flexible teaching environments, several teaching spaces feature retractable wall systems to enable spaces to be expanded or contracted depending on demand. There are also shared spaces for staff and students and some meeting rooms, kitchenettes and WCs have been retained from the original plans.
Project
The Sands/Durham University Business School
Location
Durham, County Durham
Value
£8.5m