Published 27 March 2026

Established in 1851, Hulme’s Loreto College has become a cornerstone of secondary education for Manchester’s young people as they look to build towards a future in education or the world of work. To keep pace with their growing popularity and breadth of course offerings, the College has continually evolved its estate to incorporate leading-edge buildings and facilities.

Working in collaboration with the College as their trusted engineering partner since 2008, our building services specialists first supported the design and delivery of the Ellis & Kennedy building, which was named as the 2010 BREEAM ‘Education Building of the Year’. Next, we helped tackle extensive renovations of both the Ball and Ward buildings, before providing design and consultancy input for the construction of the St Joseph’s building.

Fast forward to the current day, and our partnership with Loreto College shifted focus to the southern area of their campus with the St. Vincent’s building, which completed in the summer of 2025. Designed by 10architects, the major scheme delivered state-of the-art facilities across three floors, with the brand new, 24,000 sq ft teaching block accommodating an additional 264 students. Spread across three storeys, the building features 20 fully equipped classrooms, several staff rooms, a spacious assembly area, and a study centre which significantly enhances the learning environment.

Continuing our successful relationship with the College and 10architects, our team provided building services designs for this significant building. With sustainability a key project theme, our specialists focused on reducing operational carbon emissions and minimising energy consumption in use. This saw the installation of air source heat pumps, 100 sqm of photovoltaic panels, and a passive natural ventilation system with night cooling. Together with a highly efficient building envelope, these measures deliver a 45% improvement over current Part L CO₂ targets.

In a further boost to the facilities on offer in the campus’ southern area, the most recent development saw the construction of a compact new stand-alone catering facility. Known as ‘Our Lady’s’, this sits adjacent to the St. Vincent’s building and provides a kitchen space and break-out area for students. Our team provided the building services design for this scheme which completed in September 2025, once again seeing us work with 10architects to deliver a highly functional catering facility.