Member Article

Beech Construction refurbish six Man Met student halls

Beech Construction has completely refurbished the interior of six student halls of residence buildings in just eight weeks.

The Manchester headquartered firm carried out the £5 million project on behalf of Vero Group, one of the largest student accommodation providers in the UK.

Beech Construction, which is part of Beech Holdings, overhauled more than 800 bedrooms, and refitted hundreds of bathrooms, kitchens, windows, lounges and communal staircases so that 812 Manchester Metropolitan University students could be housed for the new term.

Andrew Cordwell, managing director and co-owner of Beech Construction along with childhood friend Stephen Beech, paid tribute to staff who worked relentlessly to ensure the project completed on time.

“There’s no doubt that it’s been an extremely challenging summer for all our staff,” said Andrew.

“But what we have achieved, given we delivered an immense and incredibly stressful project in such a short space of time, is outstanding.

“Even our Architects and Surveyors at all levels were giving a helping hand on site the night before move-in day, to give a final polish to the rooms – such was our commitment.

“It was a crazy programme of work with a few obstacles but we came through it.”

Beech Construction refurbished six neighbouring Manchester Metropolitan University buildings; Oxford Court, Briarfield Court, Needham Court, Westin Hall and Warehouse 1 and Warehouse 2. Work started in July and was completed in early September

He added that Beech Construction is a long-standing client of Vero Group.

“We currently have 23 on-going projects and therefore don’t work for anyone else. However, Vero Group, formerly Greystar, is an exception, due to the great relationship we have had with them for many years.”

Andrew, who has over 20 years’ experience in engineering and project management, launched Beech Construction in partnership with founder and owner of Beech Holdings Stephen Beech in 2006.

He added: “Beech Construction is proud to deliver projects like this, especially if it means bringing old Mancunian buildings back to life, while making our city even more attractive to students.”

Beech Construction, based on Oxford Street in Manchester city centre, is forecasting a turnover of £35m in 2017 and is also aiming to grow its workforce from 85 to more than 100 by Christmas.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Jo Craig .