Contractor appointed for Warwick STEM building as construction set to begin this year

Kier, the construction firm, has been appointed as the lead contractor for phase 1 of the University of Warwick’s “world-leading” new building looking to expand the STEM and Social Sciences facilities with a £700 million investment. 

The new development will deliver cutting-edge laboratory space to support the next generation of students and enhance the university’s capacity for research. The capital investment comes as part of the university’s broader ‘Connect Programme’. 

Plans include a new 25,000m² Science and Engineering Building, as well as new buildings for the physics and chemistry departments. 

The stated aims also involve improving building energy efficiency and creating a space for exhibitions to attract future scientists, mathematicians, and engineers. 

Going forward, the new facilities will allow for a wider range of research, allowing extra focus on more global issues such as crop protection, and treatments for tropic diseases, enabling Warwick to enhance its work on sustainability. 

The ‘Connect Programme’ aims to create “an inclusive, inspiring, interdisciplinary environment” and “spaces where groundbreaking science will flourish”. The project also intends to boost the economy, creating 1,500 jobs in construction over the course of the programme

The ‘Connect Programme’ aims to create “an inclusive, inspiring, interdisciplinary environment” and “spaces where groundbreaking science will flourish”. The project also intends to boost the economy, creating 1,500 jobs in construction over the course of the programme. 

The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Warwick and recent Coventry Award of Merit winner Stuart Croft stated: “Appointing a contractor to deliver Phase 1 of the STEM Connect Programme is a really big moment in the journey of the Connect Programme and is a timely milestone in the University’s 60th anniversary year”. 

Professor Mark Williams, Academic Lead of the STEM Connect Programme, reinforced this enthusiasm, stating he was “looking forward to working with Kier to bring to life our vision for new, world-leading facilities in STEM”. 

The construction firm, Kier, has experience developing state-of-the-art research centres, having previously constructed the Liverpool Knowledge Quarter for the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. 

Construction on Warwick’s campus will begin later this year.