The ways in which students are taught and in which they learn are changing, and the University of Northampton is at the forefront of those changes.

The University of Northampton's existing Park and Avenue campuses were built in the 1920s and 1970s respectively, and are not only ageing and costly to maintain, but also unsuited to the way twenty-first-century students learn. After an extensive review, the bold decision was taken to develop a brand new campus, and in 2013 the board of governors took the unanimous decision to relocate closer to Northampton town centre, to a new site on the banks of the River Nene. The University formally started the journey to transform a 23-hectare brownfield site, close to the town centre, into an innovative new campus. With our students at the heart of the plans, work on the site began in 2015 and we are now just around the corner from completion, with the Waterside campus opening in 2018.

For the first time in the UK, HM Treasury guaranteed the £231.5m bond to fund the campus build, reflecting its confidence in the significance of this large-scale development. In addition, the University has worked in partnership with Northamptonshire County Council and Northampton Borough Council to secure £60m of funding through the Public Works Loan Board.

The Waterside campus is the embodiment of our mission to transform lives and inspire change; we’re creating a campus that allows us to put students first and is flexible to the changing needs of our students and staff. Not only have we developed a new campus, we have also reshaped the way in which learning and teaching take place, so much so that the Waterside campus has only one traditional lecture theatre.

 Engine Shed before and after

The Waterside campus offers students and staff the facilities they have told us are important, providing everything they need to live and learn. A brand-new road bridge and footbridge have been constructed, linking the campus with the main roads and pedestrian walkways in the area. On-campus facilities include:

• Sports facilities: on campus, our sports pavilion with changing facilities serves our three multi-use games areas and a floodlit all-weather pitch. Subject to planning permission, the University will also build a multi-use sports dome designed to Sport England dimensions, suitable for a variety of sports, including football, badminton and netball. There will also be two sports performance labs and a pair of teaching rooms. The sports dome will also be used for teaching in addition to recreational use.

• Senate building: flexible ground-floor accommodation suitable for guest lectures, exhibitions and events. Flexible learning spaces designed to encourage students and staff from difference subject areas to work together.

• Engine Shed: a Grade II-listed building that is being restored to house the Students’ Union and that will include sports, societies and student services. The University of Northampton Students’ Union has received Heritage Lottery funding for the restoration. Opening in late 2017, the Students’ Union’s new town-centre venue, just a few minutes’ walk from campus, will house a nightclub, a café-bar, an art shop and a volunteer training space. It will also be home to the student letting agency and student recruitment agency.

• Student village: approximately 1000 beds will be spread over five-storey blocks of flats and four-storey town houses with landscaped courtyards. The student village also houses a thirty-two-bed hotel and community facilities, including a multi-faith chaplaincy, a bank, a convenience store and a health centre.

• Learning commons: the ‘jewel in the crown’ and largest building on the new campus, the four-storey building offers a twenty-four-hour library and learning environment. This is where the bulk of academic teaching will take place. It will also have catering facilities, bookable learning spaces, and resources for students and staff.

• Creative hub: a four-storey building bringing together creative and scientific disciplines, housing laboratories and specialist teaching spaces.

• Energy centre: our energy provision will use woodchip biomass and gas to heat hot water for all the buildings and student residences. This will save over 1000 tons of CO2 in the short term, rising to 2200 tons a year following the introduction of a CHP engine – the equivalent of taking 431 cars off the road each year.

The University will be an open, community-focused campus. Our ambition is to create a space that allows all residents to share open spaces and facilities so as to create a vibrant hub of activity, both during the day and in the evening. This includes commercial space, a hotel, leisure space and sustainable transport links to the town.

University of Northampton Waterside campus Credit MCW 

 University of Northampton Learning Hub

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Article taken from the book ‘AUDE: The First 25 Years’. Digital and hard copies available to buy.

Content for the book was drafted during 2016 and 2017 and was correct at the time of writing.