Construction and property consultancy, Summers-Inman, has been hired for two key projects at the University of York.
Acting as project manager and quantity surveyor on both projects, the firm won a competitive tender to secure the appointments.
The first involves extensive refurbishment and reconfiguration of part of the ground and second floors within the Piazza Building on Campus East to accommodate the growth of the York School of Architecture.
The second involves refurbishment of the second floor of an existing four-storey building to create a professional services hub.
Commenting on refurbishment work at the Hub, University of York’s assistant director, Capital Development, Robin Beattie, said: “The Hub is part of the university’s plan to make better use of its properties and will offer a variety of spaces to suit different ways of working to provide a flexible workspace for our teams.
“Extensive refurbishment has been undertaken to provide world-class student facilities including presentation and social areas, office accommodation, collaborative working spaces, meeting rooms and a refreshment area.
“By moving some professional services teams into this modern building, we will be able to leave other spaces such as Heslington Hall.
“This helps us streamline our operations and ensures we are creating high-quality, effective workspaces across all our locations.”
Work began in June 2025, and it is anticipated teams will start to move in from December 2025. Summers-Inman director, David Blakey, said: “We were pleased with our appointment to these projects – our first at the university – although we have extensive higher education experience gained on similar projects elsewhere.
“Working on a live site without disrupting everyday activities to execute refurbishment works is always challenging. Fortunately, our experience makes a significant difference and construction work has gone without a hitch.
“We are delivering advanced acoustic solutions to address previous complaints about noise and at the same time, significantly enhancing user comfort featuring integrated upgraded meeting rooms with digital conferencing technology.”
Meanwhile, the newly revamped School of Architecture where work began in May 2025, welcomed its first cohort of undergraduates this September.
It houses a post graduate studio, staff offices, undergraduate studio, model making workshop and Building Information Modelling (BIM) suite.
Blakey added: “Starting May 2025, we began refurbishing the west wing on the second floor of the Piazza Building, demolishing existing walls to create flexible studio space, which can easily be divided and reconfigured in the future should student numbers dictate.
“Additional improvements were also made including installing acoustic separation and creating a large open plan professional studio environment.
“On the ground floor, a new model making workshop and BIM suite were created and in line with these improvements, infrastructure works were also necessary across the Piazza Building.
“All works were completed on time and the Piazza Building was ready to welcome this year’s student cohort at the start of the new academic year.”
