Claremont Towers refurbishment, University of Newcastle upon Tyne

Originally completed in 1968, Claremont Tower is one of the tallest building on campus at 14 storeys.

The building contains the office for Information Systems and Services (ISS), The School of Computing Science and The School of Geography, Politics and Sociology.

Story Construction were appointed as principal contractor to carry out the refurbishment of three floors containing unused laboratories, in two separate phases, to provide high spec offices for the University. Claremont Tower and other adjacent University buildings remained fully active with University staff throughout the contract period; Story participated the Considerate Constructors Scheme for this project.

Work comprised the full stripping out of levels 2, 5 and 7 including carpets, furniture, kitchens, sanitary ware, plaster, joinery, ceilings and M and E. Followed by full internal refurbishment.

In addition, Story also constructed a connecting corridor to an adjacent building at level 5 and transformed the majority of level 2 from an external area, into an internal area, using modern glazing techniques to match that of the original, whilst level 7 incorporated a modern lecture theatre.

On site constraints such as limited access, (all strip out materials and all new materials were delivered to their respective floor, using one of the buildings existing two lifts) working in an active office environment and time constraints were all successfully overcome and managed by Story Construction to allow the work to be completed on target.