Bold plans for £100 million worth of developments to create ‘world-class’ facilities at Bournemouth University went on show recently at a public exhibition.
The schemes aim to create striking Gateway buildings at BU’s Lansdowne and Talbot sites, bringing significant investment into Bournemouth and Poole.
Transport and accessibility benefits for the wider community are also proposed, including a bus hub and a new link road off the Boundary roundabout at the Talbot site, plus student accommodation at Lansdowne.
More than 200 visitors attended exhibitions held over two days at the university to view displays, speak to design teams and fill in feedback forms. Local residents backed the plans. Initial analysis of responses from feedback forms showed broad support for proposals at both sites, with 87% in favour of the Poole Gateway building and 94% in favour of the Bournemouth Gateway building.
A further 85% said they agreed with plans for a new link road off the Boundary Roundabout, 87% for a new bus hub at Talbot and 83% for the proposed student-accommodation building in Lansdowne.
Professor John Vinney, BU vice-chancellor, said: “Our thanks to everyone who attended the exhibitions and had their say about our exciting plans for the future. The turnout and comments at the exhibitions were very positive. It was encouraging to see so many people support our proposals, which are key to helping us achieve our vision of providing world-class facilities for a world-class university.”
He added: “We are currently analysing the feedback in detail and will use this to inform our final plans before we submit them to the local authorities in March.”
Vinney and chief operating officer Jim Andrews were among the BU staff on hand at the exhibition to explain the proposals in more details to staff, students, residents and the general public.
Display boards showed plans for BU’s Talbot site which include a landmark Poole Gateway Building for the highly-regarded Media and Communication, Management and Science and Technology faculties.
Lansdowne’s scheme aims to bring BU’s Faculty of Health and Social Sciences (HSS) under one roof with modern facilities in a Bournemouth Gateway Building.
Associated BU parking and a new student accommodation with up to 550 beds on a separate site in Lansdowne Road by Three Sixty Developments are also proposed.
BU staff and students contribute more than £1m a day to the South West economy and support just less than one full-time equivalent (FTE) job in the local conurbation for every 7.4 students.
In 2015, BU entered the world’s top 500 universities in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings for the first time and in January 2016 was recognised in the Times Higher Education top 200 list of the most international universities in the world.
BU has been ranked in the top 100 universities in the Guardian University League Table 2016 and has risen in all three major university league tables published by The Guardian, The Sunday Times and The Complete University Guide.
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