Work on phase 4 of the STEM project, taking in areas of Sheaf Level 0 and EMB Level 0, will begin on 31 October and run through until February 2017. This phase will include breaking through between Sheaf and EMB to create a physical link between the two buildings, remodelling some classroom spaces, redefining escape routes and creating a new delivery entrance and loading bay.
A small number of staff housed in these areas are currently relocating to other areas of Sheaf, and these moves should be completed by next week. Hoardings will go up over the weekend of 29/30 October in the corridor alongside 4006, 4007 and 4009 in Sheaf to isolate these areas from staff and students and allow work in these rooms to begin safely. Access along this corridor will still be available but it will be made narrower than usual by the hoardings, and colleagues should be aware of this. All existing escape routes will remain available.
Work will also begin from 31 October on room 4019, where the flight simulator is housed, and will continue until just after Christmas. A small hoarding will be erected outside this area but, in agreement with the faculty, the simulator itself won’t be moved until after this year’s open days have been completed. Refurbishment of the engineering lab in Sheaf 4014 has already begun and will also continue through to the end of the year.
As this work is taking place in close proximity to ongoing teaching activities, staff and students using these areas should expect some relatively low-level noise disturbance over the next few months. However as no heavy demolition work is planned for this phase this should not be majorly disruptive. As always, we are working with the contractors to mitigate this as far as possible and have already agreed that some of the noisier works, including saw cutting and drilling, will take place outside normal teaching hours.
Further work on phase 4 is due to begin in December and there will be further updates on this as that draws nearer.
Elsewhere the majority of other work is ongoing in the new atrium and the chemistry lab on EMB level 2, and both are progressing well. Further demolition and cutting work has been scheduled for outside normal teaching hours, but no additional disruption is expected from this area in the coming few weeks.