Laboratory cleans up at RIBA West Midlands awards

The University of Birmingham’s flagship Collaborative Teaching Laboratory has won four prestigious national RIBA awards for its design and architecture.

The awards include: RIBA’s West Midlands Award 2019; RIBA West Midlands Sustainability Award 2019; RIBA West Midlands Project Architect of the Year Award 2019 (Awarded to Alex Smith) and RIBA West Midlands Building of the Year Award 2019.

The Collaborative Teaching Laboratory consists of: a wet chemistry laboratory, a flexibly-configured “dry lab” and a computer-oriented e-lab, all in the eye-catching new CTL main building, a £45 million investment which opened in October 2018.

The building operates teaching laboratories for undergraduates in Biosciences, Chemistry, Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Sport and Exercise Sciences, Engineering and Chemical Engineering. The student experience in each of these spaces is strongly enhanced by Educational Technology, including pre-labs, in-lab assistance and post-lab analysis, reporting and assessment.

In a time when there is a wealth of University buildings being delivered the Collaborative Teaching Laboratory (CTL) stands out as one that has been transformational to the way STEM subjects can be taught in such environments. This is a university building where the architecture not only supports and improves the delivery of research and science courses, but also facilitates collaboration between departments that have previously had operated independently of each other.

Trevor Payne, Director of Estates, said: “The Collaborative Teaching Laboratory represents a shift in how our students are taught STEM subjects, and this is an excellent example of how intelligent building design hand-in-hand with academic priorities can create a remarkable building. We are delighted and very proud to have won four awards at this ceremony.”

This is recognition of the commitment and part that all the team at the University of Birmingham have had in ensuring that they delivered a high quality final product that will support University students during their higher education journey.

 The CTL was designed by Sheppard Robson and constructed by Morgan Sindall. The professional team involved in the project included Couch Perry Wilkes, Faithful+Gould, and Curtins.

For further information, please contact Olivia Barfi on +44 (0)121 415 8262.