Firms have until first week of September to send in bids to participate
The University of East Anglia has fired the starting gun on its search for a main contractor to deliver an £84m refurbishment of Norman Foster’s Sainsbury Centre.
The grade II*-listed High-Tech landmark is set to undergo the biggest revamp since it opened in 1978 with the job including a full replacement of the building’s external envelope.
Work at the museum, considered among Foster’s most significant early projects, will also include an extensive overhaul of its MEP systems to improve energy efficiency and minimise long term maintenance liabilities.
Other packages include installing solar panels on the building’s roof, creating a new roof access system, replacing lifts and refurbishing interior spaces. Foster + Partners is lead architect on the scheme.
Suppliers have until 7 September to send in requests to participate with an award for the job, which runs for two years from 4 May 2027, to be announced on 8 October.
Positioned on the western side of the university’s campus, the building contains museum galleries, offices, research spaces, a library, cafe, shop and restaurant within a single space.
Groundbreaking when first built, its design is based around a double-layer envelope which conceals the building’s structural and service elements while allowing clean facades on both its interior and exterior.
It has undergone several past upgrades including the addition of a new wing in 1991 and an extension in 2006 which linked the building to the Lasdun Wall, a grade II-listed teaching block designed by Denys Lasdun.
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