National recognition for research building

A £30m University research building has finished runner up in a national competition that recognises the use of outstanding innovation in project design.

The Hadyn Ellis Building, on the University’s Innovation Campus, was highly commended from a field of 500 schemes in the Design Through Innovation category at the RICS 2015 Awards.

The project won through to the national awards in London after securing first place in its category in Wales.

The category recognises projects that “demonstrate how design, technical innovation and construction methods have achieved a building of distinction which delivers a wide range of benefits to the area in which it is located”.

National judges said the building was the “first of its type in Wales bringing together some of the world’s leading scientific teams engaged in advanced medical research”.

It is also home to Public Health Wales and the University's Graduate College.

The ground floor includes a public area for lectures, displays and conferences about the University's work and a 150-person lecture theatre.

The building is named in honour of the late University Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Professor Hadyn Ellis.

It has already been recognised for its sustainability and was awarded the Higher Education category of the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) Awards Wales in 2012.

The project was managed by the University's Estates team with partners including architects IBI Nightingale, Quantity Surveyors CAPITA, Civil and Structural Engineers BDP, Services Engineer AECOM and contractors BAM.