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Consultation starts on UWE Bristol’s New Campus Project

Consultation has started on the University of the West of England, Bristol’s (UWE Bristol’s) ambitious plans to extend and improve its main Frenchay campus. UWE Bristol bought 70 acres of land from its neighbour Hewlett-Packard (HP) last October with the intention of creating one of the best modern university campuses in the UK.

Now the University is asking staff, students, neighbours, stakeholders, businesses and members of the public to have their say on its plans for the new site as they are developed and what improvements it could make to the existing Frenchay campus.

The University is looking at how the land can best be used to improve, extend and consolidate its facilities at Frenchay and has appointed a team of expert designers and consultants to draft a campus masterplan. This is likely to include improvements and changes to existing buildings and infrastructure, as well as some development on the new land. All activites at UWE Bristol’s St Matthias and Glenside campuses will be moved to Frenchay as part of the project. Bower Ashton is likely to be retained for at least 15 years.

Representatives of staff, students and stakeholders are taking part in workshops with project architects and consultants later this month to share their initial ideas on what the extended and improved Frenchay campus could look like and a number of public exhibitions will be held in the next few months.

A New Campus Project website has also been set up at www.uwenewcampus.com, to both provide detailed information on the project and give everyone the chance to have their say. It will provide opportunities for online feedback including questionnaires and, for people who want to engage more actively in the debate, an online discussion forum.

Feedback from the workshops, public exhibitions, questionnaires and discussion forum will all be fed through to the project team who will take it into account while drafting the campus masterplan.

UWE Vice Chancellor Professor Steve West said: “This land provides us with a fantastic opportunity to make Frenchay into a world class university campus fit for the 21st Century. It will play a key role in achieving our vision and enable us to attract and develop the best students, staff and partners from all over the world, in order for us to make a real contribution to the regional economy.

“That is why we want everyone whose life is touched by the University – from staff and students through to businesses, employers and members of the local community – to play a part in shaping the new campus.

“We want UWE Bristol to be a ‘healthy university’ – an environmentally friendly, sustainable and healthy place to live, work learn and socialise. The New Campus Project will help us achieve this by identifying ways to cut energy consumption, encourage people to recycle and take more exercise and by providing an attractive campus environment.”