About the Masterplan

Through our ambitious Campus Masterplan, we aim to create an exceptional environment in which to learn, discover and thrive.

In 2012 the University announced a ten-year plan to transform the campus and create some of the world’s best facilities for staff, students and visitors. The basis of the plan is maintaining and respecting our heritage through careful modernisation of iconic historical buildings, while keeping our eye to the future and creating innovative and contemporary facilities that reflect the pioneering nature of our research.

Our vision is to create a sustainable urban university – a beautiful place of fine architecture, civilised city squares, walks and streets that interconnect with all parts of the University and integrate us with the vibrant city that surrounds us.

Our commitment to the Campus Masterplan is reinforced by its inclusion in the University’s 2020 vision, which singles out a ‘world-class estate’ as fundamental to realising our key goals as an institution.

This £1 billion capital programme is well underway with several of our key projects already completed, many in progress and some in the development and planning stage.

The key drivers for the Campus Masterplan are:

  • To locate onto a single campus for the benefit of staff and students
  • To create new and modern facilities for teaching, learning and research
  • To update and improve outdated facilities
  • To create a more sustainable campus and reduce our carbon footprint
  • To preserve the University’s heritage

The Campus Masterplan incorporates facilities across the full breadth of the University’s Faculties of Biology, Medicine and Health, Science and Engineering, and Humanities, as well as developing our student accommodation provision and optimising our cultural assets.

The projects are being delivered in two phases:

  • Phase one is scheduled to run from 2012–2018 and will cost around £700 million. Phase one projects are now listed on this website.

  • Phase two will run from 2018–2022 and will cost around £300 million. Plans have been drawn up for this second phase, which will include a Biomedical Campus around a refurbished and remodelled Stopford Building, a new health centre for staff and students, and refurbishment in the Schools of Computer Science, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Mathematics, and Chemistry.