Thornbury Living for Ashgrove University

You sent us three sentences in June. Here they are back.

Everything after this page answers one of them. If a section doesn't, it shouldn't be here.

1
“Two thousand beds on the Fenwick Road site, in no more than four buildings.”
Ashgrove residential brief, June 2026, section 2.1
Four halls, 2,000 beds.Built inside the footprint you drew, around a green that keeps the trees already standing on the lot.
2
“Ready for the fall 2028 intake. No student housed off campus because of construction.”
Section 2.4
Signed off by July, six weeks to spare.And if a bed still isn't ready on move-in day, we pay for that student's hotel and shuttle until it is.
3
“One price the board can approve once.”
Section 5.2
$142,000,000, guaranteed.It can come down if we build for less. It can't go up unless Ashgrove changes what it's asking for.

Four halls around one green.

Named for the trees on the Fenwick Road lot, as your masterplan already does. Pick a hall to see who it's for and when it opens.

Larch Hall

Not in the version priced below. Turn it back on in pricing.

Three rooms, drawn at one scale.

The room mix you choose in pricing moves beds between these plans. Rents are from Ashgrove's 2026 rent model and stay yours to set.

Size
Rent per term
In your mix

Every window is four students moving in.

Drag through twenty months on site. A window lights when its rooms pass inspection, and the last one lights before move-in week.

April 2028

0of 2,000 beds ready

6 weeksof float before move-in

Rain stops Hazel and Alder for three weeks while their frames are open. Turn it on and watch the float.

Price it hall by hall.

The design team, the site work and the September guarantee sit under every option. Drop any line and it tells you what Ashgrove gives up.

Under every option

FIXED

Design, preconstruction and site

Architects, engineers, permits, utility diversions and the new Fenwick Road entrance. It's the same whatever you choose below.

The halls

Phase one, Larch and Rowan, hands over in April and May 2028. Phase two, Hazel and Alder, in June and July.

Larch Hall, 560 beds

Ten floors facing the main quad. First to finish and the hall we rehearse move-in on.

Without Larch, 560 fewer beds and the main quad keeps looking at a parking lot.

Rowan Hall, 520 beds

Ten floors over the playing fields, with the largest of the four study floors.

Without Rowan, 520 fewer beds and the green loses its east side.

Hazel Hall, 480 beds

Eight floors on Fenwick Road, kept low so the chapel tower still shows from the street.

Without Hazel, 480 fewer beds. The green stays open to Fenwick Road.

Alder Hall, 440 beds

Ten floors on Mill Lane by the bus stop, with the bike store and parcel room.

Without Alder, 440 fewer beds. That's most of the 610 students on Ashgrove's 2026 housing waitlist.

Room mix

40%

Single en-suite rooms

40 percent singles

Shared spaces

The Commons, a 600-seat dining pavilion

In the middle of the green, open until midnight, with a late-night grab-and-go counter.

Without the Commons, residents eat at Hartley Hall, a twelve-minute walk across campus.

Study floors, $350,000 a hall

The top floor of every hall becomes bookable study rooms with keycard access through the night.

Without study floors, the top-floor lounges stay plain lounges, with no bookable rooms or after-hours access.

Courtyard planting and lighting

Planting, benches and path lighting across the green, finished before move-in.

Left out, the green opens as seeded lawn and lit paths. Your grounds team can plant it after year one for less.

Furniture

Furniture package, $2,250 a bed

Bed, mattress, desk, chair and wardrobe in every room, delivered and placed in June and July.

Without furniture, rooms hand over empty and Ashgrove furnishes them on its own contract in August, inside our float.

What we'd sign

All four halls at 40 percent singles, with the Commons, the study floors and the furniture, and the courtyard left to your grounds team. That's $142,000,000, or $71,000 a bed. More singles raise rent income, but they also push the lowest rent out of reach for more first-years, and the Dean's office told us that's the line it won't cross.

Four signatures. Every question answered here.

Priya, Marcus, Tom and the board each asked us something different in June. Go straight to yours.

Can it cost more than $142 million?

Priya, VP Finance

No. It's a guaranteed maximum price. If the build runs over, Thornbury pays the difference out of its own fee.

If it comes in under, Ashgrove keeps 60 percent of the saving and we keep 40. That's the only reason we'd ever want it cheaper, and it's a good one.

Drag a saving through the split

What happens if the final cost comes in under the guaranteed price.

$2.0Munder the price

$1.2Mback to Ashgrove

$0.8Mto Thornbury

When you pay it

Monthly, against work your cost consultant has checked. 5 percent held until final completion. Millions, by quarter.

Only three things can move the price

A change Ashgrove asks for in writing. We price it within ten working days and nothing starts until you sign it.
Ground worse than the June borehole survey. There's a $1.2M allowance inside the price for exactly this.
The town's utility tie-in fee, if Merrow raises it above the $640,000 it quoted in August.

The September clause

If a bed isn't ready on September 1, 2028, Thornbury pays for that student's hotel room and a shuttle to campus until it is, up to $3.5 million. It sits on top of the standard delay damages.

Will every student have a room on move-in day?

Marcus, Dean of Students

Yes, and you'll watch it work before they arrive. On August 12, 2028, two hundred student volunteers move into Larch for a day. Keycards, Wi-Fi, laundry and the elevators get tested at full load while there's still time to fix anything.

We write your quiet weeks into the contract. No piling, cutting or crane lifts during finals, and deliveries stay between 9:30 and 15:00 in term.

6 weeksof float between the last sign-off and move-in

Aug 12full move-in rehearsal with residence life

80accessible rooms, in every hall, on every floor up to six

64RA rooms, one on every floor wing

Four-bed flat

$4,350a term, per bed

1,200 beds in your mix

Single en-suite

$5,600a term

720 rooms in your mix

Accessible single

$4,350a term, at the flat rate

80 rooms in your mix

Can your team run these halls for forty years?

Tom, Director of Facilities

We designed for whoever takes the call at two in the morning. One parts list across all four halls, every plant room at ground level, and your keycard system extended to the new doors.

Your trades get 40 hours of training before handover, and every valve, pump and panel is tagged and mapped in the asset system you already run.

38percent

less energy per bed than Weller Hall, Ashgrove's newest, from all-electric heat pumps and a tighter envelope.

Heating and hot water

Air-source heat pumps in ground-floor plant rooms, two per hall, each sized to carry the hall alone. Nothing on the roofs that needs a climb in January.

Keys and access

Your current keycard system, extended to 2,000 new doors, rather than a second system for your locksmiths to learn. One master schedule for all four halls.

Spare parts

Six door types, three tap types and two lamp types across every room. A first-year stock of spares sits in Alder's basement on handover day.

Warranty and aftercare

Two years on defects, ten on the envelope and roofs. In year one we walk every hall with your team once a month and fix what we find.

Cleaning and wear

Sheet flooring that runs up the wall in every bathroom, corner guards on every corridor and the same paint colors in all four halls, so touch-ups come from one tin.

What is the board agreeing to?

Board of Trustees

Five sentences, in the order you'd want to read them.

For the vote on December 16, 2026.

Thornbury designs and builds four halls with 2,000 beds on the Fenwick Road site.
The price can't go above $142 million unless Ashgrove changes what it asks for.
The halls are ready for students in September 2028.
If a bed isn't ready, Thornbury pays to house that student until it is.
Ashgrove can stop after the first two halls and pay only for what's been built.

Six terms on site, then two years of care.

Set against Ashgrove's academic calendar, so residence life can read it beside orientation, finals and commencement.

Fall 2026

Oct to Dec

Trustees vote December 16
Letter of intent signed
Design team starts

Spring 2027

Jan to May

Design frozen in March
Ground broken on Larch
Quiet site in finals week

Summer 2027

Jun to Aug

Larch and Rowan frames rise
Hazel and Alder start
Site gate moves north

Fall 2027

Sep to Dec

Larch and Rowan top out
Fit-out starts in Larch
Winter work moves indoors

Spring 2028

Jan to May

Hazel and Alder top out
Larch done in April
Rowan done in May

Summer 2028

Jun to Aug

Hazel in June, Alder in July
Furniture placed
Rehearsal August 12

Fall 2028

Move-in week

Doors open September 1
Our team on site through October

2029 to 2030

Aftercare

Monthly walkdowns in year one
Two-year inspection with your trades

Design and permitsFrames risingRooms finishingMove-inAftercare

The contract, said plainly.

The full agreement runs to 214 pages. These are the seven parts people ask about.

The price

A guaranteed maximum price for whichever version you sign above. Overruns are ours. Savings split 60 percent to Ashgrove, 40 to Thornbury.

Paying us

Monthly, against work your cost consultant has checked, on thirty-day terms. We hold back nothing from our subcontractors that you hold back from us.

Changes

Only in writing. We price any change within ten working days and nothing starts until Ashgrove signs the price.

The September guarantee

If a bed isn't ready on September 1, 2028, we pay that student's hotel and a shuttle until it is, up to $3.5 million. Separately, delay damages of $45,000 a day start on August 15.

Stopping after phase one

Ashgrove can stop after Larch and Rowan with ninety days' notice. You pay for work done plus demobilization, capped at $1.1 million.

Warranty

Two years on defects, ten on the building envelope and roofs, with monthly walkdowns in year one.

Bonds and insurance

Performance and payment bonds at 100 percent of the price. Builder's risk insurance through handover, with Ashgrove named on it.

Three questions still open.

None of them moves the September date. Two of them could move the price, and we'd rather you read that here than find it in due diligence.

When does Merrow finish the Fenwick Road water main?
The town's water department answers this, expected in January.
If it slips past February 2028 we run a temporary connection so fit-out keeps moving. That costs $380,000, and it's already inside the price.
Is it 300 parking spaces or 220?
Ashgrove's planning counsel, before the design freeze in March.
Your brief asks for 300. Zoning allows 220 without a variance, so that's what we priced. The other 80 mean a variance hearing and $1.4 million for a deck level.
Who fits out the Commons kitchen?
Ashgrove dining services, by April 2027.
If your dining contractor fits it, the Commons line drops by $640,000. If we do, your contractor signs off the kitchen layout before we order equipment.

Sign by December 11. Move in on September 1.

The trustees meet on December 16. A signed letter of intent before then holds the March ground-breaking, and the March ground-breaking holds the six weeks of float.

Thank you. Ellen will send the letter of intent for e-signature within one working day, priced at $142,000,000 for the version you built above.

Ellen, Project DirectorThornbury Living. Call (555) 014-2200 or write to ellen@thornbury.example and you'll hear back the same day.

What you'd be signing

Guaranteed price: $142,000,000
Beds: 2,000
Halls: Larch, Rowan, Hazel and Alder
Room mix: 40 percent singles
Doors open: September 1, 2028

Change it in pricing