Christ’s College Cambridge has celebrated reaching a key milestone in the construction of its new multi-million pound city centre student accommodation block.
Around 20 representatives from the college and project managers Bidwells were given a guided tour of the King Street site by contractors R G Carter, before heading onto the roof for a traditional ‘topping out’ ceremony to mark the building reaching its highest point.
A champagne toast was poured over the new 64-bed facility, which will include kitchens, teaching space, a music room, and up to four retail units when it opens next year.
Rob Carter, Joint Managing Director at R G Carter, said: “It was a pleasure to be able to welcome so many key stakeholders and provide a first proper look at this wonderful new building. We are extremely proud of our collaborative partnership with Christ’s College and their team, and are looking forward to completing this sustainable, innovative accommodation which will serve the city’s growing student population for many years to come.”
The finished building will incorporate the existing façade of a section of the street-facing buildings that were demolished to make way for the new development. It will also provide a link to the adjacent listed Todd Building.
The Master of Christ’s College, Professor Jane Stapleton, said: “The ‘topping out’ today marks a milestone, and brings us a step closer to the completion of this exciting new addition to Christ’s. It has been a priority for us for some years now to enable more of our graduate students to live near the main College site and take advantage of all that Christ’s has to offer, and we are thrilled that this new development will bring 64 students into College. The environmental impact of the project has been a particularly important consideration, and the building will use air-source heat pumps for space and water heating, the College’s first step in removing gas from our buildings on the main site, in line with our Net-Zero ambitions. I am deeply grateful to our wonderfully generous donors, and to everyone who is working so hard to make this a reality.”
In the coming months the R G Carter team will add the external brickwork and roof finishes, lay the floors and dry line the walls.
The building is expected to be complete by Christmas.