Luton | December 2014
Works on site of the New Library project are progressing swiftly. Due to the use of pre-fabricated concrete twin walls the structure is rising rapidly arriving at the first floor slab. Currently the rebar and formwork - including shapes for first coffers - are being finalized awaiting the first pour of concrete.
Cambridge | December 2014
MCW's team of Architects is expanding.
Many congratulations to Paula for successfully passing the Part 3 exam at the University of Cambridge after an intense year of preparation and hereby qualifying as UK registered Architect, 12 years after she qualified in her native Colombia!!
Paula is an invaluable member of our team currently working on the masterplan project for the University of Cardiff as well as the New Library project for the University of Bedfordshire.
view University of Cardiff project
view New Library | University of Bedfordshire project
04th November 2014
To mark the 13th annual National Pro Bono Week, Cambridge ProHelp produced case studies on the work its members have undertaken for their local communities. MCW's recent Pro Bono activity to help refit the Romsey Mill Charity Shop was included in the report.
“We were delighted to spend time with Romsey Mill and hope that the re-fit benefits the charity. The time spent is part of our commitment to all staff to have three paid days a year to support charitable activity. This is a core part of our practice's values and helps build a healthy morale within the team.”
Murdoch Cameron
Director mosescameronwilliams architects
Bedford | 03rd November 2014
The Gateway building at the Polhill campus was handed over to the University of Bedfordshire on the 3rd of November 2014 after a one-year construction period. As part of the development, the Main Contractor has completed a 3-storey building with social and teaching facilities, and major external landscaping works.
The project was delivered on time and on budget. Comments from staff, students, and visitors have all been positive.
16th October 2014
Plans for a £330m university campus for Northampton have been put on display before a detailed application is presented to the borough council. Northampton University plans to move from sites in St George's Avenue and Boughton Green Road to Nunn Mills Road.
It hopes the move to the 55-acre (22 hectares) site will increase student numbers from the current 15,000.
Northampton Borough Council will receive the plans in November and, if approved, work could start next year.
Vice chancellor Nick Petford said it was "the largest development of any university campus currently under way".
Cambridge | 21st September 2014
A fast 2.5K course wound around the breathtakingly beautiful scenery of some of Cambridge’s finest historic architecture and past the startled tourist crowds visiting them. The Sunday morning sun finally broke through, shining down on the famous World Heritage site with it's honey coloured limestone facades of Kings, Trinity and Clare College while almost 2,400 runners passed on their plastic batons 5 times in the team relay event to the cheers of excited colleagues, spouses and their little children.
The MCW team, inspired by the never tiring Lien, proudly managed to improve the total team time from previous outings to an impressive 1h 10mins, placing it 28th in the mixed category out of a few hundred teams, effortlessly beating several others from the construction industry. Congratulations!
14th August 2014
"Architects mosescameronwilliams and Atkins join creative forces to design the University of Northampton's new £330m campus", Dave Higgitt reports on UniversityBusiness.co.uk.
mosescamersonwilliams director Murdoch Cameron said: “Having successfully completed the masterplan for the new campus, we are privileged to have the opportunity to work with the University and local stakeholders to deliver a key component of the learning, teaching and social fabric of the new campus. Driven by an aspirational brief, our collaboration with Atkins and the wider design team is already delivering exciting concept designs that will ensure Waterside Campus is a transformational project for both the town and University.”
Northampton | 07th July 2014
mosescameronwilliams deliver a talk at the ‘Claiming the Waterside Conference’ held in Northampton on 7th July.
Sharing the platform with speakers from Transform Places, Urban Impulse, NBC, Canals and Trust, Malmo University and Arup, Murdoch Cameron presented on ‘3 Projects for a Waterside University Campus’. The talk explored the experiences gained from our work at Lincoln University, University Campus Suffolk and the current developments for the University of Northampton. He presented the approach of the practice to designing on waterfronts, the lessons learned and the wider regenerative impact of such projects over the period of nearly 20 years.
Cambridge | July 2014
Been given three days per year to do charity work within the community we embarked on a one day field trip to re-fit the charity shop of Romsey Mill on Mill Road. It was indeed a nice job to do and we really enjoyed to be able to give a hand and meet the team and the volunteers.
"Practical help like this makes a big difference to a small charity like Romsey Mill, so we really do appreciate it. We hope that the shop will see a leap in sales and donations now it is looking so much smarter."
Charity Green
Fundraiser – People & Partnerships Romsey Mill
www.romseymill.org
Cambridge | 07th July 2014
For the keen cyclists amongst us, it was a dream come true to have le Grand Depart of le Tour in the UK. We all took the morning off for the start of Stage 3 in Cambridge on the 07th to experience the spectacle of the rolling circus that is the Tour de France – ‘the greatest free sporting event in the world’.
Vantage points varied but the atmosphere was consistently electric. The rollout was relatively sedate and even those that were watching at the edge of the city, as the peloton swarmed across the Essex border, realised that the riders were taking it easy after a couple of more testing days in Yorkshire.
Colin revisited his teenage cycling world by heading up to see the race as it headed out of Swaledale on Stage 1 – after managing to complete a climb that he hadn’t done since he was 19 (even then it was tough) and feeling justifiably elated he decided to try and get MCW in front of a global audience by spraying the tarmac (with biodegradable paint, of course). Sadly the enormity of the crowd plus the rapidity of the riders meant that it was legible on ITV4 for about 1 second … at least it helped his Mum find him in the crowd as she watched on the telly.
Luton | June 2014
Following the fulfilment of our role as part of the design team on this exciting new build scheme for the University of Bedfordshire delivering a Stage E+ design on a compressed programme, we saw the scheme through the tender process to the appointment of a main contractor in December 2013.
Since then we have been novated over to the construction team and are currently in the process of producing construction information and coordinating our design with both civil and structural engineers and the recently appointed M&E sub-contractors. Work has commenced on site with piling in progress and party wall matters being resolved. Archaeologists are also keeping a watching brief as the ground works continue.
Bedford | June 2014
The New Academic Building is on site and on programme. The curtain walling for upper floors has almost completed with ground floor work to follow shortly. Internal partitions and first fix of services are in good progress.
Cambridge | May 2014
The ACE Foundation is a Cambridge based charity which helps promote cultural and international understanding through the advancement of education, serving communities in the UK and worldwide. They recently bought a Victorian Granary on the outskirts of Cambridge with the intention of creating an inspiring space for education, culture, music and the arts.
We have been asked to undertake the detail design and implementation of the refurbishment and new build works. The Victorian granary is already functioning as a small performance space, this will be connected with a new glazed linking structure to an existing barn which will be converted into office space, a dilapidated cart lodge will become space for a ceramics studio. A walled garden will be created within the original farm yard.
Cardiff | April 2014
MCW have been chosen to undertake the new masterplan for Cardiff University. We overcame a strong list of competitors, including Foster + Partners, HOK, Wilkinson Eyre, Allies and Morrison, Stride Treglown and Sheppard Robson to secure the commission. The masterplan will assess all the university’s campuses across the city, involving a full consultation process with university and city stakeholders. The project commenced at the end of April, and will be complete in December 2014.
Selwyn College, Cambridge | April 2014
With the first two phases completed on time, the third and final phase has now started on site. Currently on programme for an anticipated completion date of early September 2014 the scaffolding and temporary roof are up so construction of the additional fourth floor and restoration of the existing flint and stone cladding can commence. Internally, electrical first fix and partitioning are well advanced with insulated lining to the external envelope and mechanical first fix about to start. The new build gym is also underway.
As well as fulfilling our general role producing construction information for the main contactor we have recently been working closing with a local metal fabricator, fine tuning the details to a new entrance gate for the Court.
High Wycombe | March 2014
We were asked by Bucks New University to undertake a 3 month exercise to review the Estate Strategy for their High Wycombe Campus. Our previous work with the University had resulted in the RIBA Award winning Gateway Building and the senior management team were now keen to ensure that they have a clear and robust plan for potential future development across the campus.
We arranged a series of consultation sessions with key stakeholders to assess priorities and pressures before preparing a summary document that sets out a simply phased scenario which incrementally enables comprehensive change - focusing on improving the student experience along with a transformation of the look and feel across the whole campus.
Kensington and Park Terraces | March 2014
Our scope on this project was to take on the role of lead consultant to produce a comprehensive Stage E Design Documentation ready for tendering. This was successfully delivered in September 2011. We then formed an integral part of the client team that oversaw the tender process and the eventual appointment of the main contractor in early 2012.
As a direct result of our deep involvement in the project we were delighted to announce that the University awarded us:
Excellent Consultant Awards 2013 - 1st Place
It is a pleasure to work on such a scheme and to know that we have served our clients well. We await the completion of what promises to be an exciting project in August 2014.
Northampton | March 2014
In November 2013, we consulted on our plans for future development to see how the residents would have perceived the change of function for the site and its implications. Further to those discussions, we presented a second public consultation at the end of March 2014 to help finalise our plans.
The Park campus planning application will be submitted in outline form in May 2014 and the phased development of Park campus will commence in 2019.
The redevelopment of Park campus is part of a wider programme that sees the University of Northampton planning to build an exciting new Waterside campus in Northampton’s Enterprise Zone. The University will relocate in 2018 and there will be an opportunity to redevelop the current Park campus to offer further housing in the local area.
At the core of the development will be the creation of a ‘village green’ that will be accessible by the wider community. The green will extend the existing landscape at the heart of the campus and will provide a focus for the development.
Cambridge | January 2014
We have submitted a detailed planning application, on behalf of our client the TLC Group, for the redevelopment of the old Milton Road School site in Cambridge. This sensitive site is located at a transitional point in the urban fabric - between the city centre and the surrounding, predominantly residential, areas.
The Aparthotel – provides much needed accommodation to cater for the distinctive Cambridge economy – reliant on visiting researchers and academics who require a City centre location for extended periods along with the ability to self-cater – a form of accommodation not provided by a traditional hotel.
Our proposal creates an improved public realm around this important junction. A ‘pavilion’ marks the entrance to the Aparthotel and acts as a focal element in response to local City design guidance. The aspect to Gilbert Road has been developed to be both articulate and of an appropriate scale.The focus for the scheme is a court space – sized to reflect a collegiate court and provides a valuable amenity to residents.