University of Warwick Academic Square Public Realm

Fitzgerald Contractors successfully delivered a vital civil engineering scheme at University of Warwick with works taking place in a live campus environment. This is a project that continues the company’s ongoing presence at the university where we have been delivering highways and public realm schemes since 2015.

The new Academic Square public realm works, valued at over £400,000, involved the replacement of the existing access road and footbridge into Academic Square, and the diversion of the existing stream through a new precast concrete culvert to facilitate the new footprint of a new high-specification public realm plaza.

The increased volume of east / west pedestrian movements across the university campus created the need for enhanced pedestrian links and visual amenity to retain the university as one integrated campus.

The live nature of the works across the 14-week duration during term time necessitated meticulously planning and close coordination with the University of Warwick Estates Team to maintain pedestrian access throughout the campus and to ensure that pedestrians and vehicles were fully segregated from our working areas. One of the key challenges identified at preconstruction stage was devising a construction methodology that mitigated noise, dust and vibration, as well as the challenge of carrying out our works adjacent to an existing watercourse.

Our in-house early planning involved extensive watercourse management and biosecurity mitigation measures with the need to control and divert stormwater discharge and maintain its full flow capacity. This was achieved by installing a temporary flume running parallel to the main works and extra drainage connections into the proposed culvert, we also implemented measures to eliminate the potential risk of watercourse contamination. Situated at the centre of the existing campus, Academic Square has created an important social and academic focal point for the university community. The team’s execution of the works in a safe manner to high-quality standards has provided an important learning opportunity for the scheme due to its successful undertaking in a live campus environment.