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Second Report of the Council on accommodation for the Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies within the Department of Biological Anthropology

The COUNCIL beg leave to report to the University as follows:

1. In their Report on accommodation for the Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies within the Department of Biological Anthropology (Reporter, 2001-02, p. 904) the Council recommended:

I. That approval be given for alterations to the Fitzwilliam Street Annexe currently occupied by the Department of Biochemistry to create a building for the new Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies.

II. That the Treasurer be authorized to accept a tender for the works in due course within available funding.

The recommendations were approved by Grace 9 of 17 July 2002.

2. In their Report the Council announced that the Leverhulme Trust had awarded the University a grant of £2.1m over ten years to support new posts and an associated programme of research and teaching in the general area of human evolution and development to be undertaken within the Department of Biological Anthropology by the Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies. The primary purpose of the Leverhulme Centre is to establish a world-class research centre focusing on the integration of different approaches to recent human evolution. The Centre will combine the management of the University's human biological samples (the Duckworth Collection) with the establishment of research laboratories within a dedicated building. In accepting the grant, the University made a commitment to provide suitable accommodation for the Centre. In addition the Wellcome Trust, under the SRIF programme, allocated £2.03m towards the cost of the Centre and this was augmented by a further £1.1275m from the University's formulaic allocation from the Government's provision to the SRIF initiative. The General Board agreed to underwrite the outstanding balance of £1.3m of the overall cost of £4.41m for this accommodation against prospective donations.

3. A contractor was appointed and refurbishment of the Fitzwilliam Street Annexe commenced in August 2002. Opening up the structure, however, revealed higher levels of contamination than had been anticipated from preparatory surveys and work on site had to be suspended in October 2002. Since then the building has been closed and the site made secure; subsequently the construction contract was terminated. Various decontamination alternatives have been considered and the possibility of accommodating the Leverhulme Centre elsewhere has also been investigated. The studies have concluded that the best alternative, from academic and economic perspectives, would be to demolish the existing building, decontaminate the site, and construct a new building on the same site for the Leverhulme Centre.

4. The Fitzwilliam Street Annexe is in a Conservation Area and demolition of the existing building will be contingent on both planning consent and the letting of a contract for a new building. The City Planners will not accept an empty site and the proposed use must be consistent with the Local Plan.

5. Preliminary designs and initial cost estimates have been prepared. It is anticipated that demolition of the existing building, site decontamination, and construction of a new building, with a gross area of 980 sq.m., will cost £6.021m. Costs of £1.21m associated with the original project will not be recoverable.

6. The Wellcome Trust have indicated their willingness to reassign the £2.03m allocated to the original project to the new project, provided that revised plans and programme are received by the end of July 2003. The HEFCE were concerned that the new project would not be complete by March 2004, the closing date for spending the £1.1275m allocated under the SRIF initiative. The HEFCE recommended, therefore, that the University should re-allocate the SRIF funds to another project and make a new application, which would be sympathetically received, for an allocation of funding for the Leverhulme Centre from the recently announced SRIF Round 2 initiative. The HEFCE advice has been followed and the HEFCE have agreed to the proposed reassignment of the SRIF funds. An application for an allocation of £2.939m from the SRIF Round 2 initiative has been submitted. The Resource Management Committee, on behalf of the General Board, have agreed to continue to underwrite the outstanding balance of £1.052m against prospective donations. The underwriting will be in the form of a loan from the Minor Works Fund.

7. The space and facilities to be provided in the new building will be similar to those which would have been provided under the previous project, as follows:

8. It is estimated that the running costs of the building will amount to £30,000 a year and that these costs will be a charge on the Department, via the School of the Humanities and Social Sciences.

9. Drawings of the proposed scheme are displayed for the information of the University in the Schools Arcade.

10. The Council recommend:

I. That approval be given for the Fitzwilliam Street Annexe, currently unoccupied, to be demolished and the site to be decontaminated.

II. That approval be given for the construction of a new building on the same site for the Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies.

III. That the Treasurer be authorized to accept tenders on advice from the Director of the Estate Management and Building Service for the works in due course within available funding.

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Cambridge University Reporter, 11 June 2003
Copyright © 2003 The Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Cambridge.