The development at the University’s Colchester Campus will see construction of a three-storey 55,000 sq ft building.
Essex Business School is due to be completed in early Summer 2014 and will include a 200-seat lecture theatre, a number of smaller seminar rooms, learning and teaching areas, common rooms and social spaces for students.
Designed by architects BDP, the new buildings will be carbon neutral with ‘green’ roofs, solar panels and sustainably sourced materials.
The curved timber framed and timber clad building will also feature an EPDM biome panelled roof similar to that used in the Eden Project, which is made from a fluorine-based plastic, which is resilient, self-cleaning and recyclable.
The Morgan Sindall team will construct a winter garden at the heart of the development which will act as an environmental buffer zone, supporting the passive ventilation and heating strategy of the three-storey building while also providing an attractive central gathering space.
Morgan Sindall area director, Gavin Napper, said: “The university’s vision for this project is both ambitious and progressive and we are looking forward to bringing our extensive experience in constructing education facilities to bear on this development.”