The Design
Comprising a new 350 seat lecture theatre and 26 seminar rooms, as well as social and informal learning space, the scheme was designed to provide a flagship building for the campus, which will meet the needs of all faculties, as well as providing a focus for the University’s Lifelong Learning programme.
As the building was not to be allocated to any one faculty, it was important to design spaces which would offer sufficient flexibility to meet the needs of varied pedagogical styles and to cater for increasing student intakes. Race Cottam designed the building to ensure maximum future flexibility, planning regularly sized seminar rooms in blocks of four, using lightweight separating construction to allow the adaptation and potential to combine rooms at a later date if required.
Despite the constraints placed upon the development, Race Cottam was able to obtain planning consent for this major development in only 8 weeks as a result of our considered design.
