The New Students' Centre will be the first new building at LSE for more than 40 years. It will be constructed on the site of the current St Philips buildings within the campus and gives every indication of being an exemplary piece of architecture that is innovative, sustainable and inspirational, and which will be at the forefront of 'Contemporary Westminster'.
The striking building design is by Irish architects O'Donnell & Tuomey, supported by an excellent design team which includes MEP consultants BDSP and structural engineers Dewhurst McFarland. The project team also includes project manager Turner and Townsend, and quantity surveyors Northcroft.
The New Students' Centre will house the Students' Union - including venue, pub, learning cafe, exercise studio, roof terrace coffee/juice bar, fitness centre, media centre, activities space, advice and representation centres; Multi Faith Prayer centre; residences; accommodation; sales and marketing office; and the LSE Careers Service.
Project update - Spring 2012
The NSC is finally moving out of the ground following a difficult period excavating the site and addressing defects in surrounding buildings. Bearing piles, piling mats, and pile caps have been completed across the site with a small area against Sheffield Street left to complete. Lining the walls to Sheffield Street boundary continues. Under slab drainage has been laid. The lift pits for the passenger and goods lifts have been formed. Works to form the grey water tank continue prior to the tank being installed. The Twin Wall, which will separate the NSC from the Peacock Theatre, has been built across approximately half of the West boundary of the site, see live web cam|. For site photographs please see Gallery of Images| and for our film which links photographs of works completed to date, see NSC Work in Progress film.
The difficulties experienced on the NSC site have slowed down the project including the concern of excessive noise transfer into the Peacock Theatre, when undertaking works to the wall. This resulted in works going ahead only when no teaching or conference activities were in progress. The change in construction method to a Twin Wall, independent of the theatre, is hoped will greatly reduce any on-going disruption.
Westminster City Council (WCC) restrict work on the site to between 8am - 6pm Monday to Friday and 8am - 1pm Saturday. In order to control noise from the site and disruption to the surrounding buildings the LSE have further restricted noisy works to between 8am-10am, 12noon-2pm and 4pm-6pm.
The development of the New Students' Centre has provided the opportunity for archaeologists to study the site. Gifford, the archaeological consultants for the project, have been working with the LSE to ensure that any archaeological remains on the site can be properly examined and recorded before construction begins. Museum of London Archaeology (MoLA) have been contracted by the LSE to undertake an archaeological watching brief on the site during the demolition phase.
Unfortunately, the St Philips buildings had deep basements and heavy concrete foundations and these had destroyed, with the exception of a former stream, almost any archaeological remains which may have once existed on the site. For more information please see archaeology|.
Monthly drop-in sessions are held on the first Friday of each month by LSE Capital Development and Geoffrey Osborne, between 2-3pm, in Osborne's offices in the Parish Hall, first floor. These are specifically targeted at the users of surrounding buildings who may wish to discuss the effects of the project, however all project related questions are welcomed.
For monthly news updates please see New Students' Centre News|. Also follow the construction on Twitter @OsborneLSENSC.
To take a virtual 'fly through' the New Students Centre please see below:
Download the video here|. If you have problems with this then right click and choose 'save target as' or 'save link as'
View our film on the New Students' Centre
LSE students Sophie Giscard D'estaing and Andrew Rajanathan are on a mission to find out why the School is building a new students centre in a short film on the New Students' Centre|.
The New Students' Centre design competition and consultation process is kindly supported by the LSE Annual Fund. For more information on how you can make a difference to life at the School see LSE Annual Fund|.