The refurbishment and remodelling of Mithras House, for the University of Brighton, has been announced as a Finalist in the Constructing Excellence SECBE Awards 2024 in the Regeneration and Retrofit category. The awards recognise and celebrate the very best companies, collaborations and projects from across the London and South East region.
Images: Photographer Andy Weekes, courtesy of the University of Brighton
The upgrading of the 1930s Mithras House, is part of the University of Brighton’s phased improvements to their estate, aiming to provide the best environments for their students to live, learn and socialise in, while supporting their net zero carbon ambitions.
BFF have been assisting the University with strategic planning since 2019, designing the masterplans for the future developments of their four campuses based on extensive space utilisation studies. This masterplan is being implemented in phases, the first of which focused on the relocation of key teaching and learning activities to the Moulescoomb Campus for the School of Humanities and Social Science.
To facilitate the move the first floor, and half of the second, of the Mithras building, around 3,400sqm, have been redesigned to provide an inspiring new home for the humanities and social science students and staff, and new facilities which can be used by other schools too. The remodelled building includes:
Flexible teaching and research labs;
Dedicated archive & exhibition space;
Spaces to study, alone or with others;
Widened circulation and new glass partitions to open up the building;
A new Faculty reception area; and
Inclusive and accessible spaces.
A new “Hellerup” staircase links the first and second floors of the building, providing an impressive shared space which can be used for lectures, events and as an informal learning and meeting space. All glazing in the building has been replaced with modern double glazed sash windows improving the thermal environment in summer and winter.
Originally built as a design office for a large electronics factory, the building, although not Listed, is still historically significant to the University and the City. With Art Deco influenced styling its generous slab to slab heights and large windows make it light & lofty. An exposed services design with acoustic baffles was chosen to celebrate this by maximising the natural light and feeling of space. Services run between and under existing beams, which are clad with fire protection to modern standards.
The design, installation, materials and products used, has upgraded the building in terms of modern expectations and statutory requirements for sustainability, energy efficiency, accessibility, technology and user expectations giving the building an extended lifespan. It serves as an exemplar of how retrofit can successfully be used, instead of demolition and rebuild, to refresh existing buildings to make them fit for the 21st Century.
