Conversion of a 4-storey listed apartment building to provide 3no. 2 & 3-bed student residential units in a highly sought after area of Bristol in close proximity to the Wills Memorial Building.

This is the first project Box Twenty have undertaken with Urban Creation, a niche provider of student accommodation in the South-West.

Working alongside Shu architects, Box Twenty undertook early surveys of the building to understand the existing services capacities and site constraints.

We also needed to ensure that the restaurant unit at ground floor could be maintained “live” throughout the proposed construction works.

The client was keen on using electric panel heaters for the heating installations to keep things simple & to minimise disruption to the architectural features within the building.

We developed early M&E strategies and established a robust energy strategy for the conversion, using roof-mounted, high efficiency Air-Source Heat Pumps to generate hot water.

We also proposed the use of Photovoltaic panels to offset some of the electricity that would be used for heating & hot water throughout the day.

In discussion with the planners, the PV is mounted above the roof of the access stairway onto the roof at the highest point, to reduce the risk of over-shading.

Innovative window contacts are used to automatically switch off heating within rooms to reduce energy consumption when windows are opened.

The heating control is able to be viewed and overridden remotely if required by the managing company.

We have a dual role in monitoring and policing on behalf of the client going forwards and also for completing the M&E designs on behalf of the Contractor. Works on site are due to commence in July & are due for completion in September 2020.