New Life for Old College

Description

New Life for Old College is a project which aims to bring the 'Old College' building on Aberystwyth's sea front back to life. The project is a combination of restoration works to the Grade I and II listed areas, redevelopment, reconfiguration and modernisation of other existing spaces. It requires extensive works to ensure that the building is fully accessible to all visitors and key to this is a newly constructed Atrium which will provide connectivity between the Old College building and the Villas on the Promenade. The overall floor area is circa 9,500m2 of which approximately 1,500m2 is new build. Lot 1: Old College is an imposing and iconic building which dominates Aberystwyth’s magnificent seafront. The Old College itself is a Grade I Listed building and the adjacent Marine Villas (1 and 2 Promenade), which form part of the development, are Grade II listed buildings. The building has been divided into three zones which describe the function and vision for each space: 1) Culture and Community will create spaces for functions, events, exhibitions, visitor welcome and places to eat and drink. It will also include new fully serviced visitor accommodation for leisure and business visitors and facilities for Meetings and Dialogue which will include a Centre for Constructive Dialogue and spaces for meetings and conferences. 2) World of Knowledge takes its inspiration from the university’s motto and will provide interpretation through activities, training and exhibitions that use the history of the university and the collections to inspire learning that is accessible to all. 3) Enterprise and Innovation will become home to creative business enterprise units that will encourage entrepreneurs and young businesses. The visitor offer will include: 31 high quality visitor bedrooms; visitor galleries exploring the heritage of the building and the university collections; public science shows; an annual temporary exhibitions programme and a new seafront café/ restaurant and bar and shop. Other facilities will include: a wide range of high quality rooms and spaces of different sizes for functions, conferences and events; teaching facilities and spaces for schools; University dialogue spaces; a 24 hour student study space and small business units. The works will comprise a combination of restoration works to the Grade I and II listed areas, redevelopment, reconfiguration and modernisation of other existing spaces; extensive works to ensure that the building is fully accessible to all visitors and key to this is a newly constructed Atrium which will provide connectivity between the Old College building and the Villas on the Promenade. The overall floor area is circa 9,500m2 of which approximately 1,500m2 is new build. A Multi-Discipline Design Team (MDDT) has been appointed to undertake the development of the design and who will take the design through to completion.