London South Bank Technical College, Nine Elms STEAM Centre

Nine Elms STEAM Centre is a new 10,000m², state-of-the-art further education facility in London. As the UK’s first purpose-built comprehensive technical college in a generation, it provides specialist STEAM education and vocational training, helping thousands of young people and adults gain the skills needed for employment, apprenticeships and higher education.

GRAHAM constructed the facility within the highly constrained Nine Elms regeneration zone while maintaining close coordination with neighbouring residents, developers and stakeholders. The scheme required careful planning and phasing to manage logistics, site access and construction activities in a busy urban environment, ensuring works progressed safely and efficiently with minimal disruption to the surrounding community.

The project was delivered during a period of significant industry-wide challenges, including COVID-19 restrictions, supply chain disruption, inflationary pressures and material shortages. Despite these factors, the team maintained programme certainty through collaborative working, proactive risk management and strong supply chain engagement. BIM Level 2 processes were implemented throughout construction, with QR-coded building components linked to BIM360 providing real-time access to project information, improving coordination, quality assurance and decision-making across the project team. The completed development achieved BREEAM Excellent certification, delivered a 40% improvement in energy performance compared with Building Regulations requirements, exceeded waste reduction targets by 45%, and diverted 99.3% of construction waste from landfill, demonstrating a strong commitment to sustainable construction and environmental performance.