By Carmelo Garcia – Local Democracy Reporter
Finding hundreds of skeletons, different construction methods and inflationary costs have been the three main challenges behind the redevelopment of the old Debenhams building in Gloucester.
Engineers behind the work to create Gloucester’s new City Campus have shared their experience of the project.
The University of Gloucestershire is set to open the landmark building to the public on Monday, August 18 ahead of welcoming students later this month.
The first phase of the regeneration project is now complete and the ground and first floors are kitted out and ready for teaching to begin.
In the autumn, the library will be relocating to the building from its current location in Brunswick Road.
But while the project has been hailed as a huge boost for the city, it has not been without its challenges.
Richard Fielding, Morgan Sindall’s area director for the Midlands, said: “There were three main challenges in the project.
“Once we were in the courtyard, the human remains. Some of them were 600 years old.
“The archeological aspect created a lot of challenges for the project and it took more time.
“We worked closely with archaeologists and the university. We were hand in glove with those guys to make sure we could do it as quickly as possible.
“There were 300 human remains in the end. Mainly under the substation in the main courtyard.
“Then the building was built over a long time from a hertiga, over the 1920s up to 1950s.
“Within those periods people built things differently. So they knitted together, sometimes very clinically and correctly.
“Sometimes they needed a lot of work. So there was a huge effort from structural engineering aspects to make sure we’ve left a structure which is absolutely robust for the future which will take for another 50 years at least.
“Over the period of three and four years we had to make sure we had a good selection of suppliers.
“The supply chain was important but over that period you can get inflationary costs
“Over the three and a half years we’ve gone through quite a few challenges as a nation.”
Vice-chancellor Clare Marchant said finding the human remains and making sure they were preserved and reburied.
“There were elements of the construction that when you really got underneath it we had never seen coming like the timber noggins,” she said.
“Gettting to grips with those [issues] and this was a project which started in the Covid pandemic.
“You had all those supply chain issues as you came out of the pandemic, not just materials but labour as well.
“Most of the Morgan Sindall construction team and subcontractors they’ve used have come from Bristol, Wolverhampton, Birmingham, places like that.
“That meant bringing in a labour force at times several hundreds of people working on the site.”