Morgan Sindall has been awarded a £28 million contract by the University of Reading to carry out the second phase of its major halls of residence redevelopment.

As part of the university's redevelopment of its Whiteknights campus, Morgan Sindall will build two new halls of residence to replace Childs Hall which has been demolished.

Made up of two four-to-six storey blocks of flats and a number of townhouses, the scheme will create a total of 894 new study bedrooms. The development will meet high energy-efficiency standards with the town houses designed to achieve an 'Excellent' rating through the BREEAM environmental assessment system and the blocks of flats set to achieve BREEAM 'Very Good'.

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Construction work will start in March 2011 and finish by the end of July 2012.

Morgan Sindall has been awarded the contract as one of the university's construction partners in a four-year redevelopment framework agreement worth around £200 million.

The new accommodation will be situated next to the new Stenton and Mackinder halls of residence which formed the first phase of the halls redevelopment and were also built by Morgan Sindall.

Colin Robbins, director of Estates & Facilities Management at the University of Reading, said: "We look forward to the replacement of our ageing halls of residence with new, environmentally-friendly halls, which will enhance the student experience and provide innovative and modern facilities to distinguish the University from many of its competitors."

(CD)