Scheme will add two storeys to 1989 building used by Queen Mary University

Purcell has been given the green light for a retrofit and extension of a science block at Queen Mary University of London.

The existing three-storey School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science building was designed in 1989 by Arup and MacCormac Jamieson Pritchard, the practice founded by Southwark tube station architect Richard MacCormac.

Purcell’s plans will see two storeys added to the roof of the block, adding 2,760sq m of floorspace, and a five-storey addition for improved circulation, with student capacity increased from 260 to 450.

The existing concrete frame and much of the building’s north and south external walls will be retained to save embodied carbon, while new storeys will be added using a hybrid steel and timber structure.

Purcell Queen Mary 2

The existing building, designed in 1989 by MacCormac Jamieson Pritchard

The extension will be faced with an aluminum-framed curtain wall glazing and rainscreen cladding, with the vertical extension clad in bronze and a topped with a green roof.

Gas boilers currently used to heat the site will also be decommissioned and replaced with air source heat pumps, solar panels and mechanical ventilation to recover heat.

Construction is expected to begin in the Summer of 2024 and to complete in early 2026.

Purcell Queen Mary 5

Aerial view of the site with the roof extension highlighted in blue

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