Centre for Digital Technologies, South Essex College

Introduction

The Centre for Digital Technologies is a brand-new state-of-the-art technology campus for South Essex College in Basildon, The £9 million scheme The £9 million scheme, delivered under the Pagabo framework, was the product of a collaborative partnership between Morgan Sindall Construction, South Essex College, Basildon Council and Homes England, with award winning architect Gibberd providing the design for the new campus. Located in the heart of Basildon Town Centre, the new college boasts three floors of teaching areas suitable for students to study a rich curriculum of IT, games design and animation courses, as well as break areas and a café, to provide up to 500 students with a contemporary and innovative landscape to learn and relax. Externally, new landscaping creates a civic square with links to Basildon Railway Station and a number of cycle parking zones, enhancing the vibrant offering of Basildon Town Centre both for cyclists and pedestrians.

Our Approach

Despite being hit by the challenges of COVID-19, the Centre of Digital Technologies completed on time, in budget and scored 10/10 for every measurable KPI.

Delivered through the Pagabo framework, it was the product of a strategically collaborative relationship between Morgan Sindall Construction, South Essex College, Basildon Council and Homes England.

Careful early planning ensured that this building, delivered on a surrounded site, kept the neighbouring businesses unaffected through a pit-lane area. This enabled deliveries to be taken off the main roads without disrupting community, business and parking access for the surrounding stakeholders. Such was the complexity, we employed a jobless logistics manager from Basildon who managed everything, including deliveries for the surrounding businesses.

With a fixed budget to work towards, which could not be exceeded, Morgan Sindall Construction hosted fortnightly meetings at the commencement of the stage two appointment. This enabled the integrated team to review the design, provide cost advice and create alternative value engineered solutions that would not compromise the design vision. In total the team were able to save £100k through careful value engineering workshops, an example being the interrogation of the design intent of the curtain walling system to produce an efficient solution that delivered on the visionary design, within budgetary constraints.

The design vision for the building manifested itself in the sharpness of the external appearance – creating a fresh beacon for the town centre - a demonstration of Basildon’s commitment to regeneration. By engaging specialist suppliers early in design, we delivered an innovative, fully co-ordinated solution for a unique and elaborate cladding system. The system overcame significant installation challenges to ensure the design vision was technically achieved on site.

Social Impact

Morgan Sindall Construction was also able to offer work placements for people under the Women into Construction (WIC) scheme, helping engage women in predominantly male professions, and is working closely with South Essex College to provide more on-site work experience for STEM students across the county. We worked with all stakeholders to develop both a partnering charter and a social value charter. Their underlying strategy achieved a social value investment of £7.9 million in the local economy – an 84% return on project investment. Every piece of evidence was included in a report enabling our client team to evidence every penny of investment to their stakeholders.

Before the pandemic hit, the team was able to mentor 46 CBE students and host 10 work experience placements, two of which went on to secure a 45-day placement each on site. The team also partnered with SECTA to support the sector skills hub, which included site visits for numerous groups and two resulting long-term work experience placements. 100 apprentice weeks were delivered, and two local jobless work starts were delivered from Basildon – one logistics operative and one multi-skilled operative.

Becoming integrated into the local community was key, and during the boundary wall construction, we carried out surfacing improvement works for the pub next door as a gesture of goodwill.

With localism being a key priority for the scheme, the project’s responsible procurement strategy ensured that 25% of the subcontract packages were placed within just a 25-mile radius of the scheme – resulting in an LM3 result of £1.94.

The customer experience was exceeded. We quickly established a relationship based on trust and confidence due to your open and honest approach, especially when the pandemic struck. The partnering charter was at the heart of everything. You went out of your way to be helpful – it was exceptional, above and beyond. Our CEO keeps telling people how brilliant the building is and how amazing the space is. I would be happy to carry out any client presentations on behalf of you – I’d give you an 11/10 if I could!

Steve Smith, Vice Principal, South Essex College

From a personal and professional perspective what you have achieved given the circumstances and challenges thrown at you this year is remarkable and something you should all be very proud of. I know I am. For some of us, this journey started in excess of 10 years ago and realises a key component of a property strategy I was fortunate enough to help develop, so seeing this built is a major milestone that would not have been achievable in the circumstances with a contracting partner who was anything less than extraordinary. My personal thanks to all of you, and the wider team.

Iain Bell, Director, Attol Blue (Client Project Manager)