BAM breaks ground at the University of Huddersfield’s Daphne Steele Building
BAM breaks ground at the University of Huddersfield’s Daphne Steele Building
BAM has started construction of the new Daphne Steele Building at the University of Huddersfield. A ground breaking ceremony marked the start of the project, which will create the first building at the University’s new National Health Innovation Campus.
The building will be named after Daphne Steele, who emigrated to the UK from Guyana in the 1940s and was the first black matron in the UK. It will bring together public-facing facilities, including award-winning student-led clinics. There will be a focus on entrepreneurial academic activity, serving the regional and wider health economy. Specialist clinical teaching facilities will provide unparalleled support for workforce development.
Guests at the ceremony included Health Education England’s Chief Nurse Mark Radford, Councillor Graham Turner of Kirklees Council, and Mayor of West Yorkshire Tracy Brabin. The University's Vice-Chancellor Bob Cryan and Deputy Vice-Chancellor Tim Thornton, BAM Regional Director John Phillips, and AHR Architects Director Andrew France joined the celebrations.
Speaking at the ceremony, University of Huddersfield Vice-Chancellor, Professor Bob Cryan CBE, said, “We are excited to break new ground on a project that promises to make a hugely significant and long-lasting contribution to the health and wellbeing of people in the Yorkshire and Humber region. We are honoured that such an important facility is to be named after Daphne Steele, and we thank the Steele family for graciously allowing us to be associated with her.”
BAM has a long history of delivering schemes in Huddersfield and Kirklees, with recent projects including the University’s Joseph Priestley East Building and the Huddersfield Leisure Centre.
John Phillips, Regional Director at BAM
“Our longstanding partnership with the University has seen us deliver so much of its developing estate. It means a great deal to us to be able to work with the University again, and it is the strength of that collaborative partnership that solves problems and makes for high standards in quality and sustainability.
“Our track record here in Huddersfield means we care about its people and its communities, so providing opportunities for them and local businesses is important to us. We have already teamed up with HD1 Fitness, across from the site, to provide health and wellness support to our local workforce, and we’re donating new showers and changing rooms for their gym.”
With spades now in the ground, construction is expected to be completed in 2024.
