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small things, like conveniently placed electric sockets, so they can sit down, plug in their laptops and mobile phones, and recharge them.” Access, too, is important. “What
students really want are work areas that are well-equipped and with excellent IT provision, quiet where necessary, and as close to ‘always on’ as we can get,” adds Coventry’s Dunn. “Our extended opening hours and the staff support in many of our facilities have proved popular.”
THE HUB’S THE NUB Reconceptualising their educational spaces has helped universities to build a new generation of facilities, in the form of ‘hub’ buildings, which can house and combine a number of different functions under one roof. “A hub is essentially a mixed-used structure intended to be the geographical and psychological centre of student life, both social and academic,” outlines Turnberry’s Coulson. The Hub at Coventry University – for which Turnberry Consulting provided strategic guidance – was opened in 2011, and hosts a café, dining options, convenience store, medical centre, careers centre, bar, faith centre and informal study zones, and is open 24 hours a day. Similarly, the University of Bradford has consolidated several different activities within its three-storey Student Central Building, which was recently refurbished. Homing the Students' Union, the facility simultaneously accommodates four bars, a patio terrace, nightclub, advice centres, study spaces and teaching rooms, amongst numerous other resources. Conceived to function with the J B Priestly Library, the building’s ‘Learning Mall’ fuses areas for social learning, group activities and career development. “There’s a flow from the library space to a more social learning environment, where students can have a coffee, tap on their laptops and conduct their research or dissertations, then go down and access recreational spaces. We’ve helped to create a link between work and social life,” comments Russell Smith.
your ear to the ground”. On a current project involving sports facilities, the relevant student rep running Bradford’s student sports body was involved, and their feedback shared with the design team. Seizing a further opportunity, students were also invited on a recent away day held by the estates team, in order to listen to their comments. Coventry University has decided to appoint dedicated estates reps, who are elected by students, for students, to voice their concerns to the estates team. Several surveys – including the National Student Survey – are also utilised.
ABOVE: The Hub at Coventry opened in 2011
“The hub concept is still
relatively new,” says Coulson, “but it's very likely that we will see more and more examples in forthcoming years. And they will evolve to take on more functions. The blurring of boundaries that is already happening … will continue as distinctions between learning and social spaces, formal and informal interaction, become increasingly fluid.” Intersections with businesses are also becoming more frequent, and purpose-built new structures such as the University of Bradford’s award-winning £6m Bright Building, opened in 2013, can help to provide a ‘front door’ to access the commercial marketplace. Providing meeting, seminar and collaborative office space for SMEs, the facility has also utilised several innovative green technologies, winning a BREEAM ‘outstanding’ award and receiving a rare design stage assessment of 94.95%.
FOUNDATIONAL FEEDBACK To ensure developments are relevant to real needs, it can be helpful, suggests Smith, to “keep
RESHAPING OF THINGS TO COME Although it’s important to respond to contemporary needs, managers may also need to look forward and anticipate how succeeding generations may use, or adapt, their structures, to deliver value for money and longevity. “A university estate needs buildings that are compatible with their physical context, institutional programmatic needs and financial resources,” says Jonathan Coulson. “Universities have always been
places of ambitious patronage and it's important that they continue to be so, but campus buildings are more than photogenic showplaces; to be of lasting worth, they need to be in tune with the institution's long-range mission and values.” Implementing this sagacious vision can prove particularly challenging due to the pace of technological developments, which sometimes result, says Bradford’s Smith, in even recently erected buildings becoming rapidly outmoded as users’ mores move with the times. “It’s hard, as part of an estates
team, to foresee what students want,” he says. “As data and information migrate online, could we see a significant expansion in distance and online learning? That might prompt a reduction in the size of your estate, because you don’t need the same physical space to service alternative styles of learning. The higher education estates landscape looks likely to change dramatically again over the next 10 years, just as it has over the last decade.” UB
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