Offices

The Mountjoy project was carried out for our client Durham University.  The building consisted of 3 cores of office accommodation that were to be completely refurbished internally and externally to provide modern, spacious accommodation for a variety of administrative departments within the University such as Finance, Estates and Buildings and Procurement.  The offices remained occupied throughout the works and a phased approach was adopted to ensure business continuity.  This required Miller to adopt a number of measures in working in such a live environment to minimise any disruption to adjacent building users throughout the works.

The building had three main blocks which are all joined through a central stairway section.  Throughout the first phase of the project, one block remained occupied whilst work was carried out on the other 2 wings.  Staff then decanted into one of the completed wings enabling the remaining section to be refurbished, again whilst the office was live.

A new reception area was constructed incorporating a new scenic glass lift installation to the central stair area serving 6 landings.  The office accommodation was fully upgraded from the shell of the building following strip out, this consisted of new M&E services throughout, raised access floors, open plan office accommodation, kitchens, toilet accommodation and meeting room pods.

Externally all of the windows were replaced together with solar shading, new soffits and fascias to the roof.  Render panels were also included below window panels to modernise the facade of the existing office block.  Extensive hard and soft landscaping works completed the refurbishment of the project to provide a range of modern accommodation for the core administrative functions at Durham university.