PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The project involves the refurbishment of the entire High Mill Building in Galashiels over all four floors to create an enhanced community for both staff and students to improve study experience, general wellbeing and space utilisation. Space utilisation is optimised by redesigning the space to be multifunctional, flexible and integrating with activity timetabling, all combining to facilitate multi-disciplinary use and an easily reconfigurable environment.

The High Mill Building in Galashiels dating back to 1873 was originally constructed as a woollen mill.  The buildings is a B-Listed, 4 storey, 19 bay rectangular-plan mill building constructed with an external envelope of whin and sandstone rubble with red sandstone dressings and rusticated quoin features. The internal is an open plan structure of cast iron columns and timber beams and floors. 

The building is owned by Heriot Watt University and is home to the School of Textiles and Design (SoTD). It is a centre of excellence in design, bringing together talented students from across the globe to study collaboratively in Fashion Design and Textiles.  HWU plan is to locate all learning, teaching, research and support space for this discipline to the High Mill Building.

The desired transformation is achieved through a refurbishment project reconfigure the entire internal floor plates over the four floors of the building, delivered over a 5 phased programme of works.

The building remains fully occupied and functional throughout the duration of the refurbishment programme for both students and academic staff.

KEY CHALLENGES

Live working environment where the remainder of the building remained fully occupied with normal business maintained at all times for both academic staff and students, ensuring no disruption to live services feeding the remaining areas of the building.  Careful planning of access/egress routes and controlled material delivery times and distribution throughout the building ensured minimal interface with building users and protected the health and wellbeing of all throughout the project.

 The key to the success of this was:

•   Always maintaining excellent working relationships with the building users. 

•   Detailed weekly look-ahead sheets issued each week and weekly walk rounds to show the client the progress to date.

•  Authentic and proactive communication with the Design Team and client to ensure full awareness and manage expectations at all levels i.e. nothing hidden and no surprises.

The completion of Phase 1 on the contractual sectional completion date was critical to ensure the new facility was fully operational for the students returning for the start of the 2025/26 academic term at the end of August 2025 (10 week programme). 

Section 2 completion was three weeks later (12 week programme), again
critical for student use in the new term.  Both phases totalling £860k (2/3rd of overall project value) were successfully delivered in the first 12 weeks (1/4 of the overall contract period).  The three reaming phases will be delivered over a less congested 35 week period.

 Key challenges overcome:

•   Incorporating Mechanical Specification changes within the tight programme, ensuring suitable equipment was sourced that could be procured and installed in time.

•  Short lead in time to commence works. Critical trades and materials identified and ordered within the very tight one-week mobilisation period i.e. Doors, Acoustic Ceiling Panels, Glazed Screens, Bespoke Joinery and M&E items.

•   Careful subcontractor selection from our tried and tested supply chain, ensuring only subcontractors that had adequate resources were engaged to meet the tight programme, not just the cheapest.

•   Detailed programme management to ensure no programme slippage and early identification of any programme changes and accommodation of additional works to maintain contract programme dates.

•   Immediate and efficient action taken to mitigate any delay on discovery that the existing power supply had insufficient capacity to serve the new improved service installation.  Selection of an experienced M&E partnering subcontractor with extensive knowledge of the client design standards with established supplier agreements with the main wholesalers ensured the required additional cabling and boards were quickly sourced and installed allowing the critical programme dates to be maintained.

ADDED VALUE

Utilisation of local suppliers and subcontractors to ensure benefit to the Scottish Borders community.

Assisting the design team in sourcing suitable alternative acoustic feature products, minimised lead times, allowed the programme to be achieved, provided a small commercial betterment and reduce the carbon footprint by eliminating transportation from the USA.