The final phase of construction of Stelling Properties’ £12m regeneration of a historic city centre building in Southampton was the installation of the external cladding.
The former Bank of England building was restored and redeveloped to create Bargate House – a vibrant, high specification student residence operated by internationally renowned student living providers, Unilife.
This award-winning modular construction project brought a fire damaged building back to life after it remained derelict for more than a decade, to help to meet the critical undersupply of student accommodation in the city.
In the final phase of the build programme, the studio apartments were finished in light stone-coloured external cladding to complement the local architecture and reflect the heritage aesthetic of the building.
The locally listed former bank accommodates extensive communal spaces for students to socialise and relax, including a cinema room, gym, quiet study areas, games room, lounges, communal kitchen and dining facilities, and a landscaped roof terrace.
121 studios were manufactured and fully fitted out offsite at Stelling’s modular factory in Hampshire and craned into position at the rear of the building. This approach radically reduced disruption and vehicle movements in the locality during the build phase by moving construction and the fitout phase into a specialist factory.
Richard Powell, COO of Unilife:
“This is the most amazing building. Every detail reflects our values, creating spaces that genuinely support students’ academic success and wellbeing.
Stelling transformed this historic building into incredible communal spaces for our student residents. The design team listened to feedback from existing Unilife students to inform the forward-thinking, high specification studio apartments which are modern, light and comfortable. The self-contained living accommodation gives our more mature and international student demographic the independence they need, combined with a strong sense of community and belonging through the exceptional social spaces.
The Stelling team collaborated with us at every stage. Their modular system was really well suited to this type building and has allowed us to maximise a highly constrained site whilst helping us to innovate.
We have been able to trial design features in the factory such as different types of mood lighting and interior design themes and allow students to walk around a studio before going into full production. We could even stand in a shower in the factory to check the height of the rainfall shower head.
We are very proud of this latest addition to our student living portfolio and feedback from residents has been overwhelmingly positive.”
Jose Ignacio Alvarez, Founder and Executive Chair of Stelling Properties:
“We are delighted that Bargate House – our second student living scheme in Southampton – has already won two construction industry awards for excellence. The site was challenging being enclosed on three sides, but the finished residence demonstrates the potential of offsite construction and Stelling’s technical capabilities very well.
Our teams did a fantastic job to deliver a landmark project of this scale to such high quality, sustainability, energy efficiency and architectural standards.”
Bargate House has strong environmental credentials which include MVHR (mechanical ventilation and heat recovery), precision offsite manufacturing to reduce heat loss, and the use of renewable energy from roof-mounted solar panels. As part of its ESG strategy, Stelling has also partnered with Ecologi to offsite its carbon emissions by planting nearly 16,000 trees and has funded 33 other sustainability projects.
Stelling Properties is one of the UK’s leading residential development and modular construction companies. It works as a trusted partner to contractors, developers, housing operators and investors in the design, construction and maintenance of multi-occupancy residential developments built offsite.