Bristol shows plans for major new university campus

June 26, 2017 by
Filed under: News 

The University of Bristol has revealed its plans for the new £300 million campus next to Bristol Temple Meads and is urging local businesses and industry to feed into a large-scale consultation.

The Temple Quarter Enterprise Campus development will be one of the city’s most significant regeneration projects in recent history, with 35,000 sq m of flexible space for teaching and innovation, including EngineShed 3.

One of its key goals is to work with industrial partners to develop a talent pipeline of graduates who will support the city’s successful digital cluster.

The University is encouraging businesses to share their views and help shape the new campus by taking part in a public consultation, which will run online from 19 June to 21 July.

There will also be exhibitions of the plans at Engine Shed by Bristol Temple Meads and Beacon House on the Triangle from 20 June to 7 July, plus special consultation events at Engine Shed and Paintworks.

The seven-acre site, which spans the derelict former Royal Mail sorting office and part of Arena Island, will be close to business incubation centre Engine Shed, home to the University’s award-winning Bristol SETsquared Centre, which will also be expanding into new premises within the Temple Quarter Enterprise Zone.

A range of new degree programmes will be designed and developed in collaboration with industry and other partner organisations, to ensure students educated on the Temple Quarter Enterprise Campus are equipped with the knowledge, skills, values and resilience to thrive and lead in a rapidly changing world.

“The new campus will focus on the digital technologies of the future and the skills, ethics, business models and infrastructure that turn digital opportunities into jobs, wealth and wellbeing that benefits the whole of society,” said Prof Dave Cliff, who is leading the academic side of the project. “We are working with partners, large and small, to put innovation at the heart of our campus and to build a talent pipeline of creative graduates who embrace social responsibility as well as opportunity. These graduates will be prepared to tackle global challenges that we can’t yet imagine.

“Our plan is for University staff and students to be co-located with partners from industry and commerce in the new buildings. We intend to work with our partners to co-design and co-deliver education and skills training in innovative new ways, better suited to the needs of employers and workers in the knowledge economy.”

Frofessor Hugh Brady, Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Bristol, said: “We have been given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reimagine the future of our University as one of the world’s great civic universities while also transforming a key site at the heart of our city.

“Our new campus is very much a work in progress and we would welcome people’s feedback, on everything from education provision, research and innovation to community engagement and transport links.  We don’t know exactly what it will look like yet, but we do know that we want it to feel welcoming to everyone and to be a place for the whole city to learn, explore and enjoy.”

Although designs for the campus are in their infancy and will be informed by the outcome of the consultation, there are ambitions to develop landmark buildings and public spaces which will provide a fitting welcome to those travelling into Bristol.

Fully developed, the Enterprise Zone has the potential to attract over 17,000 jobs over its 25-year lifetime and add a further £100 million a year to the city’s economy.

A second round of consultation will follow in September before an outline planning application is submitted to Bristol City Council later in the year. Applications for individual buildings will follow, with further consultation in 2018/19, when building work is expected to start. The new campus is planned to open for 2021, says Cliffe.

www.bristol.ac.uk/TempleQuarter

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