Contractor lined up for £20m Stanton Williams-designed student accommodation block
Bam Construction is being lined up for a £20m job to build a new student accommodation building for the Aga Khan in King’s Cross, in a move that could put the firm in a prime position for a major pipeline of work on the site.
It is understood that King’s Cross developer Argent is set to award the contract to build the Stanton Williams-designed student accommodation block to Bam, after Carillion was the early favourite for the scheme.
The project for the Aga Khan Foundation - which represents the leader of the world’s 15 million Ismaili Muslims - will provide 198 student rooms over 12 storeys.
The expected appointment of Bam will come as a fillip for the contractor, after tech giant Google put its plans for a £650m new headquarters on the site under review last year.
As Building revealed last year, Bam had been appointed to the £300m main construction job for the Google HQ, but the review of the scheme has now placed its position in doubt.
Winning the Aga Khan project could open the door to major new pipeline of work for Bam, with the building the first of five to be developed on the King’s Cross site as part of a new 4.5 acre campus for the Aga Khan Foundation.
One is a 9,000m2 Islamic cultural centre and gallery for the Aga Khan Foundation and the other is a new home for the Aga Khan University’s Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations, both to be designed by Japanese Pritzker winner’s practice Maki & Associates. The remaining two projects are office buildings.
The expected appointment of Bam will come as a blow to Carillion, which has worked for the Aga Khan Foundation in Canada, through contractor Vanbots - acquired by Carillion in 2008 - on the Aga Khan Museum & Ismaili Centre in Toronto, which is set to open this year.
Argent, Bam and Carillion declined to comment.
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