Shepherd Construction has been awarded a £16.5m contract to build a new research facility for the University of Liverpool .

The 5950m² Apex facility will be built on land adjacent to the University’s Bioscience Building and once complete, will accommodate 600 researchers who will support the University’s health research into infectious diseases, cancer and digestive diseases. 

In keeping with the University’s Sustainability Agenda, the new building has been designed to achieve a BREEAM ‘very good’ rating, with recycled materials and sustainable timber being used, and a heat recovery system being installed to boost the sustainability rating. The project is scheduled to complete in October 2011.

Shepherd Construction completed a similar project, the School For Tropical Medicine close to the University of Liverpool in February 2008.  Shepherd is also currently midway through construction of a £20.4 million development of grade A office space on St Paul's Square in Liverpool, on behalf of English Cities Fund.

Allan McDougall, Chief Executive Officer, for Shepherd Construction commented: “Our experience in providing the tropical medicine research facility in Liverpool has placed us in an ideal position to deliver another world-class facility and we look forward to working closely with the University of Liverpool.”

Steve Dickson, Director of Facilities Management at the University of Liverpool, said: “This new facility will provide an inter-disciplinary research environment that will build on the University of Liverpool’s international reputation for health research.”