Novus Loughborough STEM campus upgrade: design and MEP notes for project teams
Reviewed by Joe Ashwell
First reported on The Construction Index
30 Second Briefing
Novus Property Solutions has begun a £4.2m Digi-Lab project at Loughborough University, converting two adjacent buildings into a unified, digitally-focused STEM facility due for completion in June 2026. Works include full internal strip-out, new roof structure, stairwell extension, complete MEP installations and a new canopy physically linking the blocks, plus specialist floor, wall and ceiling finishes to meet stringent acoustic requirements for VR, GPU and motion-capture labs. Energy-efficiency upgrades and enhanced building fabric and air-quality systems are central to the university’s sustainability and high-performance learning objectives.
Technical Brief
- £4.2m contract value sets budget envelope for full strip-out, reconfiguration and specialist fit-out.
- Two existing adjacent university buildings are being merged into a single operationally unified Digi-Lab facility.
- Novus’ Public Services & Commercial division is delivering works within a live, occupied campus environment.
- New canopy structure forms the physical interconnection between blocks, influencing circulation, fire strategy and weather protection.
- Digital teaching spaces include Proto Hologram, VR lab, GPU lab, drone technology and 3D immersive wall/floor.
- External and landscaping works are included, indicating reconfigured access, drainage interfaces and public realm around the buildings.
Our Take
Novus Property Solutions is emerging as a recurring delivery partner in our UK Infrastructure coverage, featuring both in this Loughborough University STEM campus work and in long-term housing upgrade frameworks such as the Guinness Partnership’s £1bn programme.
The combination of this higher-education Digi-Lab project with Novus’ recent social housing window and door replacements for Aspire Housing suggests the contractor is building a portfolio that spans both public estate decarbonisation and education-sector modernisation, which can smooth workload through differing funding cycles.
Within our 873-piece Infrastructure corpus, UK university campus upgrades like Loughborough’s typically act as early adopters for low-carbon building systems, so design choices here are likely to influence specifications later rolled out across Novus’ wider PS&C and social housing contracts.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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