Our new Estate Masterplan focuses on constructing new buildings and facilities
The ºÚÁÏÈë¿Ú is investing £400M in campus development. The Estate Masterplan includes constructing new buildings and facilities such as the Ravelin Sports Centre, due to open in 2022; and a new ‘Academic Building’ currently being designed. Prior to the new Strategy and aspiration to be climate positive by 2030, the University was already forward thinking, setting targets for new buildings to achieve BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ ratings for sustainable design and ‘A’ Display Energy Certification, the most efficient rating for energy use in buildings.
The Sports Centre is located in Ravelin Park. Its spaces exploit natural light and ventilation. The sports hall is located at the top of the building, allowing for natural light from its roof lights to minimise energy consumption. There will be 684 photovoltaic panels creating renewable energy and a biodiverse green roof with beehives. Waste water drainage will be managed in part through the creation of an Urban Orchard, open to the community. The green feel of the Sports Centre comes from a blending of the inside and the outside, with activity from the building spilling into the landscape of Ravelin Park through newly created pathways and a wildflower amphitheatre ideal for outdoor events. Swimmers will have views from the pool of the natural green spaces outside, creating the feeling of open-air swimming in the park.
The University’s Ravelin Sports Centre recently won best Public Sector Project: Design Stage at the BREEAM Awards 2020 and has achieved the top rating of ‘Outstanding’, setting a significant benchmark as one of the UK’s greenest sports centres. BREEAM is a long-established world--leading rating system for certifying the sustainability of buildings.
The University’s proposed largest-ever building investment will create a new city landmark and academic building, forming a northern gateway to our campus at ºÚÁÏÈë¿Ú's 19th century Victoria Park. This will be a general teaching and learning facility as well as the new home for the Faculty of Business and Law and the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. It will provide some of the largest teaching spaces on campus. Currently in the design phase, the project team are working to ensure this building also achieves an ‘Outstanding’ rating from BREEAM with consideration underway to maximise natural light and energy by enabling daylight deep into the building. Two triple-height atriums, each with a large ocular window and green planting on the interior walls, afford fantastic views out to the park, city and the sea.
Photovoltaic roof panels will cover the roof, producing renewable power. The façade will also be high performing to manage heat and light, including more solar panels.
Both buildings are fossil-fuel free, minimising their carbon footprint over time.
For more information, visit our Estate Masterplan page. For weekly updates follow