Celebrating the transformation of Bury College’s campus in a recent statement, Mike Bromley, Head of Estates and Health and Safety at Bury College, said: “Leading this project over the past three years has been a real privilege. Working alongside our fantastic design team and builders, we’ve made huge improvements across many parts of the College estate. In what feels like three very short years, we’ve transformed the College and made a real, lasting difference to the learner experience. The best part has been seeing these new spaces come to life and genuinely make a positive impact – not just on the college community, but on Bury as a whole.”

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.

In a boost to accessibility, the scheme also saw the creation of a new entrance which is designed to accommodate all users and removing the requirement for separate entrances. Our structures design enabled this feature entrance, with our specialists also unlocking the potential of the revised internal spaces.

Discussing the scheme’s impact in a recent statement, Andrew Fallon, Chief Property Officer at Manchester Metropolitan University, said: “The redevelopment of Cambridge Halls marks an important milestone in our commitment to providing a truly modern campus for our students, colleagues and the community. We look forward to continuing our work with Unite Students to bring these benefits to life.”

Under the joint venture, Unite Students will act as developer, asset manager and operator with a 70% share of the ownership.

Continuing our successful partnerships with both Manchester Metropolitan University and Unite Students, Waterman’s team provided multidisciplinary support for this latest project. Our building services expert’s all-electric MEP design incorporates roof-mounted air source heat pumps for heating and hot water, along with a hybrid ventilation system to suit the busy city centre location. With the development targeting a BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating, our sustainability services specialists worked closely with Unite Students to support their commitment to delivering Net Zero student accommodation, seeing us conduct detailed pre-demolition and reuse audits to embed material circularity within the design. In addition, we also provided detailed energy and overheating strategies and lead the BREEAM assessment.

Construction of the first 1,101 beds is expected to complete in time for the start of the 2029/30 academic year, whilst the second phase, offering 1,201 beds, is scheduled to complete the following year.