Developing the Campus Vision

The University’s campus is key in enabling our ambitious goals to be among the very best universities in the world. With a thriving, lively and accessible campus, home to top-class facilities, we can advance our research, enhance our education, strengthen our residential offer and accommodate our growth.  

Our Campus Vision provides a longer-term approach to campus developments, harnessing technology, and aligned to our Net Zero Carbon and sustainability ambitions. It provides us with broad ideas for how the university’s estate could be developed over the next two decades, enabling us to make the right decisions for our future.

As the current stewards of our campuses, we have a responsibility to continue transforming and refining our environment. We have developed the 2045 Campus Vision to aid the next phase of its evolution. From advancing our research excellence and enhancing our teaching, to transforming our campus life and strengthening our residential offer, our 2045 Campus Vision provides us with a clear guide into the future, while supporting our ambitions to be more accessible, digitally enabled and operationally sustainable.

Trevor Payne, Director of Estates

 

How was the Campus Vision developed?

The University, following a competitively held tender process, worked with international architects, Kohn Pederson Fox (KPF), to develop the 2045 Framework. KPF have extensive sector experience and insight from their work with other globally leading universities in the UK, North America and South East Asia.

After KPF were appointed to collaborate with us on our Campus Vision, we held focus groups with our community of staff, students, alumni, neighbours, visitors, and partners to understand how we could transform campus to support the needs of our contemporary community.

After the focus groups, on-campus research was and continues to be conducted to understand the broad ideas, concepts, and pathways that could help us future-proof our university.

We look forward to working with you more as our visions, ambitions and plans continue to develop over the coming years. We will update you as opportunities to be involved occur.

We are supporting the continuing evolution of one of Britain’s great academic institutions. Built around the needs of students, staff, visitors and the community, our vision supports the University in achieving its long-term ambitions, such as being a Global Top 50 University, while continuing to celebrate its physical heritage and history as the country’s first truly ‘civic’ university.

Elie Gamburg, Kohn Pederson Fox (KPF)

 

Timeline

  • 2023 February - KPF appointed following a competitive tender process
  • 2023 Spring and summer – meet with focus groups and conduct on-campus, in-depth research and data analysis
  • 2023 Autumn – complete Strategy Framework report on findings, broad ideas, concepts, and pathways
  • 2024 Spring – approval of the 2045 Campus Vision by UEB and Council
  • 2024 Spring and summer – consideration of further studies for key aspects of the 2045 Campus Vision
  • 2024 Summer – announce overarching 2045 Campus Vision to our community
  • 2024 Autumn - feedback on findings, develop broad ideas, concepts and pathways.