Leicester's billion pound campus plan creates a new sense of place and purpose

Leicester has developed plans to create a campus that matches its ambition and its reputation as an academic elite – the University currently ranks 12th in the UK and has a vision to succeed as a top 10 university.

A crucial part of this is building a campus that enables the University to achieve its full potential, and a new Development Framework Plan will provide the template for how Leicester can continue to be known as one of the best.

The University of Leicester is planning to invest £1 billion in its estate, detailed in a new strategic Development Framework Plan – amongst the biggest of any UK university – in order to underpin and affirm its position as a top tier UK university.

The new £786m Development Framework Plan builds on a £300m campus plan announced by the University in 2002 and highlights the potential for Leicester to realise its vision for the future.

Investment in top class research and teaching facilities and staff has enabled Leicester to rocket up league tables – now being ranked in the UK top twelve (The Complete University Guide published in The Independent) and having achieved the accolade of being nominated for University of the Year for four consecutive years – winning it in 2008.

Vice-Chancellor Professor Robert Burgess said: “This visionary plan is in keeping with Leicester’s ambition to rank amongst Britain’s best universities. In a global marketplace for education, it is essential that the physical attributes of the University reflect its world-class research and teaching. What will take shape at Leicester will speak volumes for the kind of institution we are and our ambition to be the best.”

Key to Leicester’s plan is to develop a campus that augments its strengths in teaching and learning, research, provide scope for new ventures and developments and creates a ‘sense of place’ – a campus that staff and students find memorable. The aim is to develop a first-class estate befitting a first-class university.

At the heart of the strategy is the creation of high quality landscaped public spaces between buildings, with car parking and deliveries removed from view as far as possible, and publicly accessible buildings set around four new pedestrian squares.
Leicester plans to:

• Increase its capacity by a million square feet – from 198,000 sq m to 298,000 sq m
• Provide increased capacity to increase student numbers by 50%, from 10,000 full time to 15,000
• Provide provision for 24-hour campus facilities
• Take account of our environmental responsibilities through our estate design
• Create a buzz through centrally accessible public arts, staff and students’ social facilities

Paul Goffin, Director of Estates, said:
“First impressions are extremely important. It has been said that prospective students form a firm opinion about a University within their first 15 minutes of arrival at an Open Day. No university can afford to be complacent about its ability to attract students.

“This visionary plan will create a campus that sells itself to staff and students.

“When one thinks of major public institutions, the quality of how well they are remembered is dependent to a large extent on how much of a sense of place they have. Memorable public spaces and buildings will speak volumes for Leicester.

“The University’s academic achievements are, of course, hugely powerful in shaping its identity or brand- but it will also be remembered by all who deal with it as a place. The more positive the experiences of this ‘sense of place’ can be, the more memorable the University of Leicester is, delivering benefits in terms of competitiveness, student and staff attraction and retention and general reputation.

“The campus is like a small city within a larger city, and the University should aspire to create spaces like those which exist in the best cities, which draw people in and encourage them to stay and meet others.”
Leicester will build on its heritage of buildings that span three centuries in order to maximise the benefits of space for staff and students.

Professor Burgess said: “It is entirely appropriate that we consider how we can shape the future so that our buildings and wider environment enable us to continue to thrive as one of the leading academic institutions in the UK and the world.

“This is the most comprehensive review the University has ever undertaken of its estate. We are unique in our heritage of Listed and notable buildings from the 19th and 20th centuries combined with our setting within the City and the mature landscape around us.
“There are great opportunities ahead to increase our capacity for growth and improvement and create better places to work, meet and enjoy ourselves.”

Leicester’s vision for the future involves transforming the appearance and function of some of its landmark buildings to create a new sense of purpose for the central campus. Along with an academic mission that seeks to exploit the synergy between research and teaching, Leicester aims to create new work and social spaces to facilitate interdisciplinarity and networking opportunities.

The vision for the 2020 campus and beyond is one with:

• Increased academic space providing capacity to thrive and innovate
• Space for learning and teaching at the heart of each part of the campus, requiring minimal travel time, and sufficiently flexible to encourage innovation and facilitate a diversity of teaching and learning methods
• A public realm planned as a linked series of well-designed squares, defined by buildings around them with pedestrian priority
• Social, cultural, student support, retail, eating and drinking spaces all on or easily accessible from ground floor level
• Provision to locate parking underground or at the perimeter and at alternative sites as well as encouraging greener ways of travelling
• Postgraduate accommodation close to the academic site
• Provision of high quality student accommodation that is treated as a priority second only to the provision of academic space
• Tall buildings on the curtilage of the university

The plan envisages many enhancements to some of Leicester’s landmark buildings. The Attenborough Building, for example, would incorporate a Podium with a curving wall which follows the natural line of pedestrians entering via Mayor’s Walk and connecting to Victoria Park via the Library.

The new podium building would contain shops, cafes and restaurants. Retail would also feature prominently in the redesigned Charles Wilson Building which occupies a pivotal position on campus. The plan envisages making the Charles Wilson Building a more useful resource and better ambassador for the university, without losing its sculptural landmark qualities.

An improved gateway to the campus,new atriums in the Adrian Building and Fielding Johnson Building, the creation of a Science Plaza, a redevelopment of the Students’ Union building and recommendation that the Arts Departments be located on the central campus feature heavily in the plan.

Funding for projects will be achieved by using our own resources, capital grants from government and fundraising from a range of benefactors. The University will launch a fundraising campaign for capital works commencing with the Students’ Union.

Professor Burgess said the plans to develop the campus were an integral part in fulfilling the academic vision of the University. It would provide the University with a competitive edge and with a consistency of quality and image, focusing on the experience of students.
Students had played a central part in creating the vision of the future and the University had also consulted with local leaders in order to help shape its plans. Views of applicants and comments left in student chatrooms were also taken into account and descriptions of the University in various guides helped to inform the Development Framework Plan.

Professor Burgess said: “The plan captures the potential of Leicester to reshape itself in a physical sense as a world-leading university with the assets to match its academic vigour."

Note from Paul Goffin, Director of Estates:
The Development Framework Plan (DFP) was launched in November 2008 and there has been significant interest, both from within the sector and outside.

By way of background, there are a number of projects that are already under way and these are summarised as follows;

- The £15m refurbishment and transformation of the Students’ Union building is on site and due to finish this summer
- The £15m, 281 room extension for the Nixon Court residences is due to start on site in May this year and we are awaiting formal planning approval
- We have commissioned a full feasibility study to redevelop our Freemen’s Common (South Campus) site. Estimated to be a £70m project, this will comprise of 600 Post-Grad bedrooms and an academic teaching building
- We are currently designing a £12m cardio vascular research centre at one of the Hospital sites in Leicester
- We have started a phased programme of improving the landscaping around the main campus. We are awaiting planning permission for alterations to the main vehicular entrance and changes to the area outside our new Library
- We have commissioned a feasibility study for the £30m refurbishment of one of our central buildings, the Charles Wilson Building
- We are carrying out a sample space audit to identify areas where space utilisation might be improved
-We are in negotiations with a number of our neighbours to acquire land where there is an academic/institutional need to invest in new facilities
-We have completed the £90m business case for the refurbishment of the University’s Medical Sciences Building

We are currently in the process of agreeing a capital development programme for the next ten years. This is likely to be in the region of £30m - £38m per year, subject to determining the funding for the capital programme.