Legacy education portfolios
As climate targets and energy efficiency become more prominent, educational institutions face challenges with respect to appraisal of their built assets and execution of portfolio wide upgrade to make greatest impact decarbonisation and efficient utilisation of spaces.
While the challenge can be intimidating, Arup’s enviable track record in the education sector of providing multidisciplinary design enables the successful reuse or integration of buildings to maximise the potential of existing building stock.
Our engineers will conduct comprehensive assessments of building portfolios to identify areas for improvement in energy efficiency, sustainability, and technology integration. Our teams help you think creatively, finding ways to pivot assets’ use, identifying second or third lives for the same assets.
Transforming existing spaces to meet changing needs provides an opportunity to extend an asset’s useful life, while providing unique spaces that have more value than comparable new-build solutions. Along with environmental benefits, transforming and reusing existing buildings often delivers greater commercial and social returns than demolishing and reconstructing. It can be far more cost-effective for education institutions, create more characterful places for staff and students, and preserve heritage value for communities. Valuable cultural and heritage assets, require creative, context-appropriate restoration solutions. Arup frequently leads specialist preservation teams, negotiates with regulatory bodies, and delivers sensitive restoration schemes that preserve character while enhancing efficiency and value.
The renovation of Amsterdam’s OBA Oosterdok library has confirmed its role as a go-to place for locals and visitors to read, learn and meet up, with the creation of innovative, adaptable learning spaces and a wide array of hangout areas.
Arup was initially appointed in 2007 to provide structural design for the new build. For the latest refurbishment, Arup was engaged to provide a wide range of consultancy services including lighting design, and carry out a feasibility assessment for the proposed changes.
Spaces have been redesigned to include more room for individual study and group learning, a second auditorium, and an expanded food offering including a grand café on the ground floor, featuring the largest magazine collection in the Netherlands; and a new restaurant - Babel - on the seventh floor.
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Projects
Explore more education projects
Repurposing an old school building into a space for 21st century science
Sir William Henry Bragg Building, University of Leeds, UK
Utilisation audit for university teaching, learning and working spaces
University of Nottingham Malaysia Space Utilisation Audit, Malaysia
Taking Macquarie University’s timber structures to the next level
Macquarie University Ainsworth Building, Australia
Ecological design enriches learning at Macquarie University
Macquarie University Michael Kirby Building, Australia
Education
From primary education to universities, libraries to research labs, Arup understands the way these challenges apply across the evolving landscape of education.