Work completes on Mildenhall Hub
23 June 2021
Currie & Brown provided project management, cost consultancy and employer’s agent services on the construction of Mildenhall Hub in Suffolk, a major national exemplar to integrate public services in the town.
Appointed by West Suffolk Council on behalf of all the project partners and funders, Currie & Brown has been engaged as project manager on the project since 2016. Subsequently the consultancy was appointed as cost consultant and employer’s agent in 2017.
Opened in June this year, the Hub brings together public services to improve the health, wellbeing and education for the community and is recognised as a significant project in the government’s national One Public Estate programme.
The range of community assets includes Mildenhall College Academy, a health centre, leisure facilities, advice centre, library, children’s centre and other public services on one site in the town. The Hub also provides office spaces for partners including the NHS, Suffolk Constabulary, Jobcentre Plus, Citizens Advice Bureau, Suffolk County Council and West Suffolk Council.
The project has been funded by West Suffolk Council, the Education and Skills Funding Agency, Suffolk County Council, Academy Transformation Trust, Sport England and Suffolk Constabulary. The total cost of the project is more than £40 million.
The Hub has been designed by Concertus, and has a gross internal floor area of 15,290m2 and total site area of 121,161m2.
In line with Suffolk County Council’s aspiration to reduce its carbon footprint, the building design uses a mix of renewable technologies including ground source heat pump, combined heat and power (CHP), solar panels and a battery energy storage system. The result is a highly efficient and innovative renewables solution.
In 2018, prior to construction, an archaeological dig was undertaken by students from Mildenhall College Academy with Suffolk Archaeology. The dig revealed artefacts from the area’s Iron Age and Medieval history, including a near-complete bovine skeleton, jewellery and jars.
Work commenced on site on 8 March 2019, with local MP Matt Hancock attending the event to mark the occasion. R G Carter was appointed as contractor, and the building celebrated its topping-out ceremony on 6 March 2020.
The building is now complete, and the phased opening of this innovative facility began early June 2021.
Grant Rix, associate director in Currie & Brown’s Norwich office, said: “We are delighted that the Mildenhall Hub is now open to the public and are excited to see this new integrated way of working become a reality for the benefit of the local community. It has been a pleasure to work on such a unique, complex and cutting-edge project, one that generates real pride for everyone involved in its delivery.”