September 5, 2014 2.50 pm This story is over 113 months old

Flagship £28m Lincoln student flats development reaches milestone

Behind the steel: The £28 million University of Lincoln student flats development off Ruston Way is taking form ahead of an August 2015 completion.

The £28 million University of Lincoln student flats development off Ruston Way is taking form ahead of an August 2015 completion.

Jackson & Jackson Developments Ltd signed the official contract with constructors Kier Group at The Gateway site on Friday, September 5.

The project will be completed by August 5, 2015, in time for the September student cohort. Details of the accommodation management and pricing will be released at a later date.

As previously reported, the accommodation scheme will be managed by the University of Lincoln.

Revised plans comprise of 519 bedspaces with additional ground floor retail, cafe or office space.

The eight-storey building, designed by Lincoln-based Stem Architects will comprise of a mixture of studio apartments and cluster flats as part of the university’s Lincoln Masterplan.

Image: Stem Architects

Image: Stem Architects

Work on the site began after proposals were approved by the City of Lincoln Council in January 2014.

The Gateway’s steel structure is made up of 4,164 components and over 1,300 tonnes of steel.

Co-owner of Jackson & Jackson, Cameron Jackson said: “It’s been a long process and one that’s extremely important for ourselves and Kier.

“We’ve been working to a very tight time-frame and it’s very exciting to see it all taking form. So far all has been running smoothly, but of course we are aware that problems can arise at any time.”

Currently, people driving around the Tritton Road roundabout will have observed the steel skeleton of the build take its form.

Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

Cameron added: “The next stage will be to get the floor planks in and make the build watertight. Then the project really starts to take form.”

Richard Chaman, Operations Director for Kier Contruction Central, oversees the business in the East Midlands. He said: “This is our current flagship job for our office. We like each of our offices to have a flagship project above £15 million so this £28 million project is a cracking scheme for our office.

“We’re really chuffed to be working with Jackson & Jackson Developments to deliver the scheme for Lincoln.

“On the site itself, we will have between 20 and 150 people at one time. We try as hard as we can to employ people within 10, 20 and 40 miles of the site.

“We want to reinvest our clients’ money into the local area. Because if you spend £1 on the site with local people, it generates approximately £3 for the local economy.”

Dominik Jackson said: “One thing that was really important to us was that we wanted to employ as many local people and businesses as possible.

“Kier was one of the closest tenders geographically to Lincoln and we were also attracted to them because they set targets to employ contractors within the shortest radius.

Richard added: “The approach with our clients has been fantastic and we’re getting great results. For example, the steel you can see on site today is actually two weeks ahead of schedule.”