McAleer & Rushe has shared a construction update on Dominus’ 65 Crutched Friars purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) development, which will form part of a landmark mixed-use scheme in the heart of the City of London, worth a construction contract value of over £100m.
McAleer & Rushe are making strides in the delivery of this visionary mixed-use scheme for their long-standing client, Dominus, with superstructure works well underway and looking ahead to the commencement of façade and internal fitout later in 2025.
When McAleer & Rushe took over the site they were surprised to discover that very little information existed about the building from the ground floor down. There were no records on its substructure and underlying ground conditions, operations and maintenance manuals, existing building footprint drawings or blueprints.
The new building is now rising from its foundations, with McAleer & Rushe expecting that it will be fully completed by summer 2027.
“There was no ground investigation information at that point. And unfortunately, there was no information on the structure itself and how it was built, which is quite unusual for a building constructed in the 1980s.”
George Stack, Project Manager, McAleer & Rushe
The 65 Crutched Friars development will include a new 21-storey PBSA building that will provide 782 student homes in a mix of premium studios, studios, twodios, threedios and affordable cluster bedrooms.
Homes will be complemented by green spaces open to the public, such as a new pocket park and public roof terrace. It will also create a permanent home for London’s Migration Museum with a purpose-built, three-floor 30,000 sq ft space.
The site was home to the former HFW Office Building. which contained some features of historic value to the City of London. This included two Friars Statues mounted to the façade, which have been carefully removed by a specialist contractor and will be incorporated into the new external landscaping of the new scheme.
This construction update comes as McAleer & Rushe have been shortlisted in the prestigious Ground Engineering Awards for this scheme in partnership with Card Geotechnics Limited (CGL) .
The design and build contractor is shortlisted in the following category: UK Project with a Geotechnical Value of between £1m and £3m.
The Ground Engineering Awards celebrate the UK’s most exceptional achievements in the industry, recognising technical excellence, collaboration, and sustainable innovation.
