Laing O’Rourke’s Beercroft Building opens at Oxford University

The Beecroft Building, a new 8,950sqm building for physics at The University of Oxford, delivered by Laing O’Rourke, has opened.

As the principal contractor Laing O’Rourke’s fully integrated one team approach achieved dynamic work and research laboratory space with minimal environmental and carbon impact.

The Beecroft Building sits above the deepest basement in Oxford: a 16-metre-deep complex of high specification laboratories intended to house extremely environmentally-sensitive atomic-level experiments that will advance the University’s research into areas such as quantum science and technology, and probe the fundamental laws of nature. 

The Beecroft Building will accommodate some 200 theoretical and experimental physicists. It has been designed to foster collaborative working in a visually connected, acoustically controlled environment. Offices and collaboration spaces are organised within a five-storey atrium connected by a meandering staircase to enhance social interactions. Breakout spaces are arranged at half levels within the atrium, with informal seating arranged around double height curved blackboards. 

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The Beecroft Building provides the most technically advanced facilities and a modern working environment that will transform the way Oxford University’s Department of Physics works. 

Liam Cummins, Laing O’Rourke’s Head of UK Building said: “We have enjoyed a lasting partnership with the University of Oxford, with the Beecroft building providing a great example of the quality and certainty that comes from that. Our continued commitment to an early engagement approach and engineering excellence is reflected in what we’ve been able to deliver together. It is a facility which we hope will benefit both students and academic research in the years to come.”