8:30

I have just dropped my daughter off at nursery and while I would normally head to our Birmingham studio, today I hop on to the train towards Coventry instead. We are currently working on the new Science and Health Building for Coventry University, located at the core of their evolving new city centre Health and Life Sciences Quadrant.

The journey to Coventry is quick but I still have time to go through my emails and agenda for the busy day ahead, which includes a number of meetings and a tour of the site.

Our Birmingham studio is conveniently located in the city centre, just minutes away from the station so it’s simple and practical to reach Coventry by train. Conveniently for our client, the strategic location of our office allows us to be on site within 25 minutes to promptly solve any issue or attend to any critical stages of construction.

Our first meeting is with the Heads of Faculty and members of the contracting team. This morning’s agenda looks at covering all three projects we are currently working on with the University.

SHB is up first. We discuss how the works are progressing, go through the issues which have arisen on site and assess which challenges we are likely to have to face in the future. SHB covers multiple disciplines: as well as doing the design for the building, we also take care of the landscaping. We firmly believe in the importance of regular face-to-face team meetings and although we constantly communicate via phone and email, being in the same room always proves to be much more productive.

11.30

After a quick coffee break, we move on to the Engineering and Computing Building 2. This project is in the early stakeholder consultation process meaning that we are currently undertaking a conversation with both the teaching and technical staff to agree on the design and assess their specific requirements.

During this critical stage we have run a number of workshops to engage in dialogue not only with the client but also with the end users, asking them to express their needs and expectations, putting forward suggestions on how each space could be maximised and assessing what look and feel they envisage for the building. I take out the report from last week’s workshop and we go through the main points brought up by the participants.

12.00

We have a brief chat about the Civic Centre project, which is still at a very early stage. We are currently arranging a benchmarking trip with the Vice Chancellor, Faculty and Teaching staff to visit other landmark education buildings such as Oxford and Lancaster Universities. I briefly talk through the schedule planned for that day.

Benchmarking tours enable both the designers and end users to explore which approach other fellow teaching institutions have taken towards their learning spaces and is always a great kick-start to a constructive dialogue. As a result, we usually get a very clear picture of what is most important to the clients and stakeholders and which elements they regard as a priority for their new building’s success. It is fascinating to listen to the conversations that occur on the journey back from the sites and hear what everyone made of the buildings they saw.

14.00

The second part of the day on site starts with an extensive tour of the SHB. It is a very high-spec building with two floors of contemporary science laboratories, sports facilities such as running tracks and strength and conditioning on the ground floor and the reproduction of a hospital.

This means there is a very wide range of diverse uses under one roof; the hospital floor needs all the elements of a real hospital – the cleanliness, the capacity to transport gas, there’s even an operating theatre! I’ve had experience of designing science labs in the past, but I have learnt a lot about health technology with this project. Thanks to the university staff I got to understand exactly what happens during the patient’s journey and what is needed at each stage.

During the site tour we check how the contractors are doing and answer the questions arisen during the build. This visit is also an opportunity to monitor the overall quality of the building so that we can maintain the highest of standards until the very end.

It’s exciting to see so much enthusiasm and participation despite the project still being incomplete. The list includes local authorities such as the Council and Planning Department in Coventry and the Birmingham Architects Association.

I scroll through my calendar and am reminded that our next education sector meeting will also take place at Coventry. Holding our quarterly internal meeting in one of our own education buildings will be a huge inspiration for the team, allowing them to see in practice the work we’ve been doing, even though they may not have directly been involved in this particular project.

17:30

I am off to Manchester for the 2017 Education Estates Awards. We have been shortlisted in the ‘The Project of the Year’ category, with Coventry University also in for ‘Client of the Year’. With universities having to do so much more to attract students there are some great projects shortlisted, so it will be a tough competition. Fingers crossed for a fantastic night.