Arup joins our Oxford 'Science Cities' forum

Above: CGI of entrance to the new DNRC building (courtesy Defence and National Rehabilitation Project)

We are delighted that Tim Crow from Arup will be joining our 'Science Cities' forum next week in Oxford to speak about the Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre (DNRC) project.

An experienced programme and project manager, Tim has successfully led and managed the development of major capital projects and programmes in defence, police, healthcare, science and research across the United Kingdom.

Tim is currently the lead project manager for the Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre (DNRC) project. The programme involves the creation of a 21st century clinical rehabilitation centre of excellence in the United Kingdom. The centre is comprised of two elements: a Defence establishment for injured service men and women and a national facility for the general population.

Since 2009, Arup has been managing the £300 million project to create the Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre (DNRC) in the East Midlands. The programme involves the creation of a 21st century clinical rehabilitation centre of excellence comprising two elements: a Defence establishment for injured service men and women and a National facility for the general population.

Arup states:

'The Defence establishment is a state-of-the-art clinical facility for injured service men and women. The programme also includes the potential to develop a national clinical rehabilitation facility where the expertise that exists within Defence medicine could be shared for the benefit of the Nation.

'We played an integral role in the project, providing a project management-led multidisciplinary team including architectural and engineering design, planning, environmental, cost management and specialist consultancy services, drawing on expertise from our offices across the UK. Through its integrated approach our project managers ensured that all key decisions on design and cost were value-driven, leading to significant capital cost savings in the design and procurement stages. The team has managed the project through conceptual and detailed design stages, procurement and contract award, and managed the construction work on site.

'The Arup teams successfully managed significant planning risks to secure consent for this development, including the refurbishment of a Grade II* building within registered parkland, whilst rationalising the conceptual design to reduce costs despite increases in scale. An innovative procurement strategy using competitive dialogue which we developed to overcome unfavourable market conditions gave further substantial cost savings, without reduction in performance or scale. In addition to the roles on the Defence establishment, we continue to support the progression of the National facility through the concept stage and is part of the team overseeing public consultation events with the local community.'

Tim will also be talking about Arup's project - The Life and Mind Building - which is a significant science development for the University of Oxford in South Parks Road, at the centre of the historic science campus.

Oxford University has described the project:

'The Life and Mind Building will be the largest building project the University has ever undertaken and will significantly improve the way psychological and biological science is undertaken in Oxford, helping scientists to solve some of our major global challenges. It will be home to the Department of Experimental Psychology and a new Department of Biology, combining the existing Departments of Plant Sciences and Zoology. The funding and delivery of the building will be undertaken in partnership with Legal & General.'

Below: west facing facade rendering by NBBJ of the Life and Mind Building, Oxford University