CROME COURT SHORTLISTED FOR RICS AWARD

LSI's Crome Court project has been shortlisted in the Design Through Innovation category.

LSI’s Crome Court project has been shortlisted for a 2015 Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors Award in the Design Through Innovation category.

The RICS Awards showcase the most inspirational initiatives and developments in the region, and nationally. The winner of the East of England award will be announced at a Regional Dinner in Bury St Edmunds in May, with the winner to then be entered into the National Awards held at the Savoy, London later in the year.

Martin Lovatt, Estates Project Manager at UEA commented “There is no doubt that the innovation and design of Crome Court has made a significant contribution to the character and appearance of this section of the campus and the surrounding area.  It expresses confident architecture.”

LSI_CromeCt_01

Partner Trevor Price said that Crome Court proves it is possible to create a distinctive, attractive and highly sustainable building within a tight budget and programme;

“We seek to follow design principles through which we can provide low energy, passive solutions that bring cost benefits without adding huge costs to the bottom line, for example looking at ways in which you orientate your building to help with lighting, the potential for natural ventilation, and ways in which you design a building as a low energy solution. A key driver for this is the use of high levels of insulation. Crome Court is a great example of how we can design low energy solutions and very attractive buildings.

The University is delighted that the sustainability standards exceeded the brief, and can look forward to reduced energy and running costs in comparison with other residences.

Calculated at a ‘grossed up’ room cost of £45k per room, the building provided exceptional value and at a valuation of £17.5m the project is a very sound investment.

These financial benefits have inspired the university to invest in a new 900 bed student residential development based on the design principles developed for Crome Court, and so the project has acted as a significant catalyst for economic activity for the area that will provide hundreds of jobs over the next few years and a new income stream for the UEA that will help support the University’s ground breaking research and teaching facilities.”