Proposals for £100m worth of landmark developments, creating further world-class facilities at Bournemouth University, have been submitted to planners.
Planning applications for striking gateway buildings at BU’s Lansdowne and Talbot sites have been lodged with Bournemouth and Poole’s councils following public consultation earlier this year.
The schemes, which are set to bring significant investment into Bournemouth and Poole, will include state-of-the-art facilities for BU’s highly regarded faculties of Media and Communication, Management, Science and Technology and Health and Social Sciences (HSS).
A hybrid planning application to develop a landmark Poole Gateway Building and new transport infrastructure at Talbot has been submitted to the Borough of Poole.
If approved the building would provide new specialist facilities including TV studios, editing suites and PC laboratories for BU’s Media and Communication, Management and Science and Technology faculties.
The proposed transport infrastructure includes a new link road off the Boundary roundabout, a bus hub on campus and a car park extension.
Lansdowne’s scheme aims to bring HSS under one roof with modern facilities in a new Bournemouth Gateway Building, situated off the A338 St Paul’s roundabout.
A full application for this and associated student accommodation has been submitted to Bournemouth Borough Council.
Professor John Vinney, BU Vice-Chancellor, said: “These new developments will help us achieve our vision of providing world-class facilities for a world-class university so that we can continue to develop global talent.
“The new buildings will bring investment in the region of £100m into Bournemouth and Poole, creating striking gateways to Talbot and Lansdowne.
“Our proposals also include a new link road and bus hub at Talbot and stronger pedestrian links in the Lansdowne quarter, which will bring benefits to the wider community.
“If we are to continue producing Oscar-winning graduates, designers, engineers and the midwives, nurses and social workers of the future, then we need the facilities to attract the best.”
If approved, construction is scheduled to begin in 2017 for both sites, with buildings opening in September 2019.
As part of the Lansdowne project, Three Sixty Developments is proposing to develop student accommodation with up to 550 beds on a separate site in Lansdowne Road at a cost of approximately £37m.
Since 2012 BU has been embarking on a significant programme, investing multi-millions of pounds to improve its facilities for staff, students and the community.
At Talbot, its new £10.5m Student Centre opened in March 2015 and a £22m new academic centre, called The Fusion Building, is nearing completion.
In Lansdowne, BU’s new International College opened last September.
Professor Vinney added: “Our staff and students contribute more than £1 million a day to the south west economy and every 6.5 students recruited supports 1 FTE job in the economy of the south west region.
“For this to continue we must remain competitive and updating our facilities is essential to that.”
BU is committed to achieving BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Methodology) Excellent certification for its new buildings and was recently awarded EcoCampus Platinum certification and was ranked in the top ten UK Universities for environmental performance in 2015 by People and Planet.
Any growth at the university will be within the existing envelope of student numbers for a medium-sized university.
