New science building on the up near Ramphal

Construction has recently begun adjacent to the Ramphal building for a brand new Chemistry and Physics department, costing twenty four million pounds.

The building will be four storeys tall and will have 4,699 square meters of total floor area.

However, Warwick student opinion is divided over whether this costly development is really necessary or appropriate, especially when Universities are being instructed by government to cut back on expenditure.

One first year history student commented that “universities have to limit the number of places available to new students, yet are still able to spend millions on seemingly endless amounts of construction.”

Indeed, this new wave of building work comes just as the £8 million refit and extension of the Arts Centre is completed, and only weeks after the new Student Union building eventually became accessible to students.

Warwick University press officer Peter Dunn told the Boar that £17 million is being spent on the construction of the actual building, with the remaining millions being directed towards enabling works, equipment, furniture, and any other costs.

Warwick insite lists the benefits of the building, saying that “it will house purpose-built laboratories with state-of-the art microscopy, mass spectrometry and x-ray diffraction equipment and is designed to achieve BREEAM Excellent environmental status.”

BREEAM refers to the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method which is the leading and most widely used environmental assessment method for buildings.

According to the official BREEAM website it “sets the standard for best practice in sustainable design and has become the de facto measure used to describe a building’s environmental performance.”

Third year physics student Jamie is excited about the new development: “I know a lot of people hoping to come to Warwick next year, so this will be awesome for them.”

The date of completion is said to be September 2011, according to Peter Dunn, theoretically being ready for the new intake of students.