Jessop East Engineering Building

A new six storey Engineering Building at Sheffield University, designed by architect RMJM Ltd will be built on the university’s Jessop East site. Balfour Beatty were awarded the £50m main contractor for this building as part of an £81m investment by the university.

The new engineering building is expected to create 500 jobs during construction and £44.5m into the local economy during construction and the first year of operation. The new engineering building is an essential development for the university and it will form the centrepiece of its plans for the next decade.

The specialist engineering building will include lecture theatres, a range of seminar rooms, open-plan learning spaces, laboratories as well as other learning facilities. It is the largest investment made the university in teaching facilities.

Billington Structures provided the structural steel for the atrium roof, link bridges and the façade for the new engineering building. The working environment was extremely confined as there were large amounts of steel on the site from other trades. Much of the construction phase was carried out during winter and the cold temperatures also affected welding conditions.

The new 19,500 metre square building has been nicknamed the Diamond because of its unique shape and colour of its glass and anodised aluminium façade. The new engineering department will hold up to 5,000 students and it will also be used by other departments to promote cross-disciplinary study.

The internal design of the building features a naturally ventilated, central atrium with curved pods that will be used for informal study and group discussion by students. The classrooms, offices and laboratories have full-height glazing are located to the north and south of the atrium.