Esther Simpson Building

This new facility includes a diverse range of innovative teaching spaces, state of the art lecture theatres, academic offices and student support services alongside extensive works to the public realm, improving accessibility and legibility. 

Our stakeholder group for this project was diverse with a wide-ranging needs base. To oversee the multiple phases of work leading up to Esther Simpson, a Capital Academic Group was established, bringing together key stakeholders responsible for the Schools Pedagogy, Business Planning, and Facilities Provision. 

We represented the design team alongside Project Management personnel from estates as proposals were developed and presented at a fortnightly meeting to this group. We worked particularly closely with LUBS Director of Enhancement, prototyping spatial arrangement and implementing a test bed project within an existing building, prior to rolling out the typology within the new build phases of work. This created a virtuous circle of ongoing engagement and feedback between students, the academic end user, estates team and DLA as lead designer, ultimately driving up the value provided by the later phases of work. 

Leeds University Business School sits at the heart of Leeds Little Woodhouse conservation area, with its central base located within the Grade 2 Listed former Leeds Grammar School. The original character of the conservation area is determined by the Victorian terraced properties, the scale and materiality of which informed our work. It was critical that whilst maximising the development potential of the site the building mass should not feel imposing, we adopted a solid masonry construction up the level of the surrounding terrace houses, with an additional floor above this appearing to be a “glass box”, merging into the sky and reducing the perception of height. 

The scheme provides a variety of high quality teaching space for the Leeds University Business School with inherent flexibility which caters to individual requirements. Key to the project was the desire to deliver an evolved pedagogy centred around innovative methods of teaching, with the ultimate goal to improve student experience without compromising on facilities capacity. 

The implementation of offsite manufacturing for the building façade contributed to the project opening to students on time and under budget despite the impact of the Covid 19 Pandemic. We wished to pursue off-site manufacture to reduce access issues on a constrained site and reduce vehicle movements through the live campus. A pre-cast panel facade offered many practical advantages but raised concerns regarding sustainability. Stakeholders were concerned that the increase in embodied carbon did not justify the benefits. 

Working with the structural engineer, we undertook a holistic review different construction methodologies and found that by base loading all of the pre-cast elements from foundation level, and deriving restraint only from the structural frame, the use of pre-cast panels allowed the overall weight of the building’s steel frame to reduce by circa 15%. This saving offset the additional embodied carbon within the façade, comparing favourably to traditional masonry construction, and offering a carbon saving over the lifetime of the building compared to light weight brick slip systems. This was a valuable insight, demonstrating the need to consider sustainability focused specification decisions holistically, and confirm preconceptions are correct. 

Engaging with Ramboll and directly with specialists in the detail design of mechanical systems during the planning process and prior to tender, we ensured the building design allowed for the optimum, most efficient solution to be realised. Ventilation and cooling are provided locally within each teaching room using a hybrid natural ventilation system which can efficiently heat or cool circulating air using batteries of phase changing materials located within the ceiling void. 

The numerous intakes and exhausts this approach requires are discreetly incorporated into the building façades, employing novel detailing to deliver contemporary buildings which remain sensitive to the conservation area setting, whilst delivering teaching spaces which are comfortable year round, with industry leading sustainable credentials. 

Incorporating extensive cement replacement into the building specification alongside the maximum available percentage of recycled content across key packages, the project achieved the RIBA Climate Challenge 2030 target for embodied carbon (LETI Band B), whilst addressing the challenging site constraints. 

“Western Campus”, also home to the School of Law, began life as a satellite site. The University has since worked to reconnect the site back to the main city centre campus, incrementally introducing new developments providing facilities and waypoints between the two established centres. Located on the edge of the University estate, this scheme functions both as a link – establishing a visual connection across Clarendon Road, with physical connections in the form of new tabled pedestrian and cycle route crossings – and as a gateway into campus for students approaching the city from student accommodation located to the south along Clarendon Road. 

We aimed to strike a balance between maintaining the established character of the area, whilst providing best practice accessibility and increasing the biodiversity of the public realm. Mature trees were retained and a series of low maintenance pocket parks incorporating native species attractive to pollinators, to create a sequential journey through the conservation area. Many of these green pockets were situated in counter point to building entrances, to assist with wayfinding and incorporated public artwork commissions.