Beard celebrates completion of world class accommodation at
Lady Margaret Hall

Oxford, 11th May 2010: Beard is celebrating the completion of its largest project yet, a grand, neo classical L-shaped building providing important new accommodation and student facilities for Lady Margaret Hall in Oxford.

The three storey Pipe Partridge Building, named after key benefactors, provides 64 high quality ensuite undergraduate bedrooms on the first and second floors, with a range of student facilities on the ground floor, including a tiered 136-seat lecture theatre, dining hall, seminar rooms and new Junior Common Rooms.

The £8.5 million, two year, project has delivered an extremely high quality building with intricate detailing inside and out, requiring craft-intensive construction skills.  The building uses a concrete frame on piled foundations with external walls of brick, natural stone and lime mortar to blend seamlessly with its sensitive surroundings.

The project has required a core team of nine professional staff from Beard to manage the complex building programme including the work of 79 different specialist subcontractors, which in turn has benefitted a number of other local firms. At its height the two year project has employed up to 90 personnel on site at any one time.