The Portland Building was built in1995 to be the new home for the School of Architecture. In 2014 the School were to move to new premises and it was decided to completely refurbish the existing building, in order to prepare it for the incoming departments.

Works included the provision of new mechanical and electrical services to achieve significant energy savings, together with internal finishes, external coverings, the creation of additional internal floor area, new glazed draught lobbies and re-planning of internal accommodation. A new Café/Servery in the existing atrium is also included, with external canopies and seating. The Surveying, Civil Engineering and Business Schools, together with Information Services, moved in on programme in summer 2014.

Lowe and Oliver worked closely with the lighting consultant ‘Light Perceptions’ to deliver new lighting and fire alarm systems within the Abbey. The lighting was controlled via Lutron homeworks and the control of the LED’s was DMX modules. The modules were located at the east and west end within a cabinet installed out of public sight. The wiring for this was carried out in SY multicore cable. The fire alarm system was wired in Micc throughout and was clipped directly with the building’s fabric. The fire alarm system comprises of smoke detectors, manual call points, heat detectors and beam detection.