Bradfield College has appointed Feltham Construction Limited of Newbury as its main contractor to build its new Science Centre.  The new Science Centre, which uses the very latest in sustainable design technology and brings all three main science subjects together in a single building, has been designed by architects MEB Design Limited of Oxford.

The state-of-the-art science block which includes ten sophisticated laboratories, a living grass roof, a conservatory and a biomass boiler is intended to provide an educationally and environmentally exciting space for the teaching of science. Construction started in July 2009 and will be completed in time for the start of the academic year in September 2010.

The majority of the £5m building has been funded through the generosity of Old Bradfieldians, parents and other benefactors.

In recognition of a major donation by Mr David Blackburn OBE (D 45-50)  and the Blackburn Family, the new building will be named the ‘Blackburn Science Centre’.

The College has a strong science tradition. One of its alumni, Sir Martin Ryle, a former Astronomer Royal, was jointly awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1974. Other notable alumni with significant achievements in science and related fields include the agricultural geneticist William Ormston Blackhouse; the horticulturalist Sir William Lawrence; the internal combustion engine pioneer, H. Pelham Lee; and the neurophysicist Charles Phillips.

Mr Peter Roberts commented “The Blackburn Science Centre will ensure that Bradfield continues to be a centre of excellence for science and that Bradfield plays its part in reversing the national decline in the number of young people studying and teaching the sciences. In addition the Blackburn Science Centre will also provide the opportunity for hundreds of young people from outside the College to benefit from its facilities, in particular by extending Bradfield’s partnership with West Berkshire primary schools. This exciting new development would not have been possible without the considerable generosity of the Blackburn Family and other donors both large and small.”

To find out the latest progress report on the construction of the Science Centre, please click here