Brookfield Campus

We had the privilege of working on a project on the redevelopment of Brookfield Campus at the University of Leicester, this included a complete refurbishment of the existing building as well as a new build extension. The original Brookfield House, located at the site is a historic building for the university as it was the original home to the benefactor of the university, Thomas Fielding Johnson. It is the new home for the university’s School of Business and is situated only 10 minutes away from the main campus and is close to the student village of Oadby.  

This was a large scheme to work with and totalled approx. £15.8 million, one of the university staff members have stated that this project was particularly special in order to bring a new lease of life back into Brookfield house and create an excellent environment for the students as well as the community as a whole. As it is located within the Stoneygate Conservation area, all precautions and planning were set out carefully and designed to respond to this in an appropriate manner. 

The new extension and refurbishment of Brookfield house included a new Harvard-style lecture theatre and state-of-the-art learning and teaching spaces. We worked with over 2,500m² of different materials across both buildings, including carpet tiles, LVT and safety flooring. There were three floors to work on and we had to make sure we completed all the works within the given timescale and before the deadline when the students would return and the site would be opening.  

The new seminar rooms consisted of an Interface carpet plank, which had a striped pattern and had a variety of different colours. We laid this planks in a herringbone pattern and made sure the colours and position of the planks was in strict accordance with the clients wishes. We also had some pattern work in the communal office area on the first and second floor. This was completed using the composure tile from Interface which consists of different coloured tiles being connected using a separate ‘Edge’ tile which fades the two colours together and gives a seamless connection between the two. This was used to separate the academic offices into the shared area. The rest of the office spaces were covered using the Composure tile as well and made up the majority of the works.  

The new lecture theatre was also completed using the Composure tile and we had to make sure that it was fitted smoothly against the oval shape of the theatre. We also fitted nosings that were specially templated and fabricated to fit round the lecture theatre. 

We laid some safety flooring from Altro into the WC areas in both buildings, this flooring has a high slip-resistance which is perfect for these areas. This was applied with a coved skirting which helps towards safety and hygiene. Along with safety vinyl we also applied some rubber vinyl flooring from Nora to the staircases, including the landings, treads and risers.  

It was an enjoyable experience creating a new and improved environment for the staff and students of the university to work in. We look forward to continuing our expertise in the education sector.