Student Accommodation
Bargate House, Southampton
Design in details
This was an ambitious £12m regeneration of a historic city centre building in Southampton.
A locally listed former Bank of England building was restored and redeveloped to create Bargate House – a vibrant, high specification student residence operated by internationally renowned student living providers, Unilife.
This award-winning modular construction project brought a fire damaged building back to life after it remained derelict for more than a decade, to help to meet the critical undersupply of student accommodation in the city.
Our modular solution
121 studios were manufactured and fully fitted out offsite at Stelling’s modular factory in Hampshire and craned into position at the rear of the building.
This approach radically reduced disruption and vehicle movements in the locality during the build phase by moving construction and the fitout phase into a specialist factory.
Steel-framed, 8m long modules, each weighing up to 12 tonnes, contained a single apartment and arrived on site completely finished.
This included kitchenettes, shower rooms, fitted and loose furniture, flooring, doors, and glazing already in place. These were lifted into position over a six-week installation phase.
The site was challenging, being enclosed on three sides, but the finished residence demonstrates the potential of offsite construction and Stelling’s technical capabilities very well.
Community
Enhancing the locality and creating a flourishing student community.
The Portland stone façade of the original bank building has been restored and other parts of the original building have been retained including the historic bank vaults in the basement.
The studio apartments were finished in light stone-coloured external cladding to complement the local architecture and reflect the heritage aesthetic of the building.
The self-contained living accommodation gives the more mature and international student demographic the independence they need, combined with a strong sense of community and belonging through the exceptional social spaces.
Every apartment in Bargate House was designed to foster independent living and has a kitchen with an oven, microwave and induction hob. The finishes are higher specification such as quartz worktops in the kitchens, rainfall showers, privacy blinds as well as curtains, and a dining table.
There are large oriel windows in the studios, which flood the rooms with natural light, increasing the footprint of each apartment with generous upholstered window seating, and are angled to maintain privacy.
Sustainability
Awards & strong environmental credentials.
Bargate House has strong environmental credentials:
- MVHR (mechanical ventilation and heat recovery)
- Precision offsite manufacturing to reduce heat loss
- Renewable energy from roof-mounted solar panels
As part of our ESG strategy, Stelling has also partnered with Ecologi to offsite its carbon emissions by planting nearly 16,000 trees and has funded 33 other sustainability projects.
The Bargate House project has also won awards in:
- Best Use of Volumetric Technology, Offsite Awards
- Winner of Winners Awards, Offsite Awards
“This is the most amazing building. Every detail reflects our values, creating spaces that genuinely support students’ academic success and wellbeing.
Stelling transformed this historic building into incredible communal spaces for our student residents. The design team listened to feedback from existing Unilife students to inform the forward-thinking, high specification studio apartments which are modern, light and comfortable.
The Stelling team collaborated with us at every stage. Their modular system was really well suited to this type building and has allowed us to maximise a highly constrained site whilst helping us to innovate.
We have been able to trial design features in the factory such as different types of mood lighting and interior design themes and allow students to walk around a studio before going into full production. We could even stand in a shower in the factory to check the height of the rainfall shower head.
We are very proud of this latest addition to our student living portfolio and feedback from residents has been overwhelmingly positive”
Richard PowellCOO of Unilife
Explore our interview with Richard Powell following the completion of Bargate House.
