Nottingham "green" chemistry building destroyed by fire

Source: SWNS

Dozens of firefighters were called to the university’s Jubilee campus last night after a blaze broke out at the GlaxoSmithKline Carbon Neutral Laboratory for Sustainable Chemistry, which is under construction.

Nobody was hurt in the fire, which did not spread to other buildings in the area, according to media reports. After several hours the fire was eventually brought under control.

According to Nottingham’s website, the building was “the latest landmark development” at the campus.

The laboratory, which is designed to be carbon neutral and as such was being constructed from natural materials, was being built with the help of a £12 million grant from GSK raised as part of a “green chemistry” commitment first announced in 2010.

An open day for prospective students that was planned for today (13 September) would still go ahead as planned despite the fire, said Paul Greatrix, Nottingham’s registrar.

“Thankfully, there have been no casualties as this is a building that was still under construction,” he said in a statement issued while the fire was being tackled.

“We are grateful to the fire teams on site who have worked extremely hard to contain the blaze.”

simon.baker@tesglobal.com