construction update at Gradel Quadrangles

We take a look around the Gradel Quadrangles development to see the construction progress to date.

New College recently hosted a second complimentary breakfast for the project team working on the Gradel Quadrangles site.

Once again, the venue was the College’s spectacular dining hall. The oldest working venue of its kind in Oxford and Cambridge, the hall has been serving meals since 1379. Quite the experience!

Out on site, work progresses and is certainly grabbing the attention of passers-by, owing to the complex geometry and the high level of detailing involved.

We took this opportunity to speak to Gez Wells, Home Bursar of New College, and Richard Bayfield, Project Director, New College, who share how the project has been progressing from their perspective.

Gradel Quadrangles - Interview with Gez Wells, Home Bursar, New College

I'm Gez Well, I'm the Home Bursar of New College and I'm responsible for the daily operations of

an institution which is nearly 700 years old. And, pleasingly, I'm also responsible for delivery of

Gradel Quadrangles project working in partnership with David Kohn Architects and Sir Robert

McAlpine. What's particularly pleasing about this project, as opposed to other projects I've

been involved with, is the clear communication and collaboration that we're managing to achieve with

both the design team and construction team. The College really does pride itself on the importance

of this idea that actually this is a team from the beginning to the end and we realise that it's all

about the input that we put in at the beginning, which makes for a successful project. The McAlpine

team have bought into that idea straight away and right from those inception meetings and having

early discussions about how a really complex site, and difficult to achieve, given its constraints,

how this project would come together and be built. We are past a year in now and the building site we

stand here today is really testament to the level of working detail that went in at the beginning.

Pleasingly, we're on time. I'd like to think we still remain on budget

and we are a really successful happy team as we produce what is going to be

a really magnificent landmark building for Oxford.

Gradel Quadrangles - Interview with Richard Bayfield, Project Director, New College

“As the building takes shape we're getting a lot of plaudits from those that just walk past the site and are intrigued by this very unusual, very complex building taking shape along the Oxford Skyline." Richard says. "It's a building that I think will turn heads and is turning heads.” Watch the full interview with Richard Bayfield.

I'm Richard Bayfield, the Project Director. I was brought into New College just over four years ago

after planning permission was achieved in the project. Hence, experiences of the project team,

and particularly the main contractor, Sir Robert McAlpine, have been very positive so far.

Part of my role was to recruit a cohesive and collaborative team, not just on the consultant

side but on the contracting side. The architect a few weeks ago called me and said how he felt trust

was still on the table. And I think to deliver a successful complex project such as this one,

trust needs to be on the table the whole time, on both sides. Collaborative attitudes of the

SRM team have been foremost in what we've experienced as a client. There's been a

'can-do' approach but a recognition that on such a complex project everyone needs to be flexible

but also to respect our commercial positions on both sides. I think one of the other things that's

been particularly good is the ability to have an open mind from everyone in the delivery team. We

started this project with a concrete roof, a shell roof, and through discussions, through peer tests,

in fact even from challenges from the engineering department at Oxford University, we've ended up

with a timber roof, which has reduced our carbon footprint and I think has produced a much better

result overall. That was one of those areas where if everyone in the project team, designers,

contractors, had had fixed positions we would have ended up with an unsatisfactory solution for the

client. I think we've got a much more satisfactory solution that ticks a lot of boxes, has saved us

money and saved us carbon. And to come out of that attitude that we're prepared to compromise,

we're prepared to hear new ideas, we're prepared to look at alternatives. As the building takes

shape we're getting a lot of plaudits from those that just walk past the site and are intrigued

by this very unusual, very complex building taking shape along the Oxford Skyline. It's

a building that I think will will turn heads and is turning heads.

Construction update at Gradel Quadrangles for New College Oxford

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