Bournemouth University’s plans to build a landmark building at the ‘entrance to Bournemouth’ have been endorsed by Bournemouth Borough Council’s Planning Committee. Councillors unanimously resolved to grant planning permission and it is envisaged that the final approval will be given over the coming month once the remaining details have been agreed with planning officers.
The gateway building will sit off the A338 St Paul’s roundabout near the main train station in Bournemouth and will act as a landmark for the gateway into the university’s Lansdowne site and Bournemouth Town Centre.
The building will be the new home of the university’s Faculty of Health and Social Sciences and will feature state-of-the-art teaching space, clinical skills labs and facilities to develop students for a career in the health profession.
Professor John Vinney, Vice-Chancellor of Bournemouth University, said, “We are very pleased to see our planning application supported, as Bournemouth University continues to invest in this region and in its facilities to ensure that we are giving students and staff the best possible experience during their time with us and a new home for our Faculty of Health and Social Sciences.
“This building will truly be the gateway to Bournemouth, on a major entrance route into the town, and we will work to make this visually stunning structure a reality and something that the whole town can be proud of.”
Jim Andrews, Chief Operating Officer at Bournemouth University said, “This academic building will be the largest that BU has developed, and the planning endorsement is welcome news for all of the BU community, but in particular for the many staff who have already been working hard to get this project to where it is. Once final approval is given the work can truly begin as we make plans to see this building come to fruition and become a real resource for our students, staff, partners and visitors for years to come.”
The building will provide just over 10,000m2 of space for BU students, staff and the community and will be between four and seven storeys high.
It will have an attractive piazza to welcome students, staff and visitors and will encompass pedestrian links through to other parts of the Lansdowne, with easy access to public transport. It will include a library, catering facilities, social collaborative learning space as well as staff offices, lecture theatres and research facilities.
The permission also allows for a new Halls of Residence of 550 beds to be developed on the site of the building at 21 Lansdowne Road and Cranborne House car park. It is planned to be up to 14 storeys high, and will be similar in height to the neighbouring Cranborne House student accommodation building. This Halls of Residence will be developed by ThreeSixty Developments.
BU is a key education provider for the NHS, with programmes covering nursing, midwifery, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, paramedic science and social work. The Faculty of Health and Social Sciences - currently located across three different BU buildings on the Lansdowne site - works in partnership with more than one-third of local authorities in England.
Construction is scheduled to begin in 2017, with both buildings opening in September 2019.
For more information about the proposed developments, please head to www.bournemouth.ac.uk/campus-development.
