The Old Building refurbishment works on Levels 1 to 6 are now complete. Departments of Social Policy and Sociology are now occupying their newly refurbished spaces.
Works to install lifts serving the Student Services Centre and Vera Anstey room will continue until Spring 2025. See our latest newsletter below to ensure you are kept up to date with project progress.
Newsletter 8 - November 2024 (pdf)
Newsletter 7 - March 2024 (pdf)
Newsletter 6 - October 2023 (pdf)
Newsletter 5 - September 2023 (pdf)
Newsletter 4 - August 2023 (pdf)
Newsletter 3 - August 2023 (pdf)
Newsletter 2 - July 2023 (pdf)
Newsletter 1 - March 2023 (pdf)
Refurbishment
The key objectives of the project are to accommodate the academic departments of Anthropology, Sociology & Social Policy to improve the student and staff experience whilst working to preserve and enhance the rich history of the Old Building.
The refurbishment works provide an opportunity to de-carbonise the existing building in line with LSE’s ambitious and market-leading zero carbon targets.
The refurbishment will include modernising the academic spaces via upgrades to building components, finishes and services. An aspiration for the refurbishment is that Old Building be an equally valued facility which can stand amongst, and
be celebrated alongside, the many new state of the art buildings around campus.
The link bridge between OLD and STC will also be removed as part of the works, it will be closed wef Monday 22 May 2023. The bridge is the last of three that were installed to link the campus some 50 years ago.
Link bridge between St Clements and Old Building circa 1971
The academic departments Anthropology, Sociology and Social Policy are to be accommodated across levels; 2, M2, 3, M3, 4, 5 & 6.
The existing quality of space across these levels is vastly inconsistent, owing to the piecemeal way the building has been maintained over its long history. Some elements that have been developed recently are of good quality and worthy of retention whereas others are worn, dated and in need of modernisation. The key dates of the programme can be found below:
Proposed programme of works for OLD refurbishment works
Electrification - Work Phases, Service Shutdowns and Planned Disruption
The electrification project has been developed to create a cleaner low carbon operation for heating the building. The project includes state of the art heat pump technology that will achieve a 70% reduction in carbon emissions for the building. Mechanically ventilated heat recovery units are be installed to reduce heat losses.
Replacement of artificial lighting: 75% of existing lighting to be replaced by highly efficient lighting with built-in occupancy and daylight controls.
At times there will be a requirement for services to be shutdown. Advance notice of these will be communicated in advance to building users via departmental administrators and staff and student news.
Reporting Issues:
If staff or students find any spaces that are cold, facilities that have no hot water or any building damage please report this via the Estates Helpdesk at Estates-Help-Desk@lse.ac.uk and the team will aim to prioritise these areas.
If you have any queries about the upcoming works please contact:
Francesco Biancelli— Principal Project Manager: f.biancelli@lse.ac.uk
Kenneth Kinsella—Director of Capital Development: k.kinsella@lse.ac.uk