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Leeds Met set to be in super class of its own
University plans will alter city landscape Exclusive by Ian Rosser education reporter A £130m building programme to create a world-class Leeds Metropolitan University is set to reshape large parts of the city centre.
Tower blocks will be demolished, car parks turned into learning centres and unwanted buildings sold off.
At the heart of the project is a 20-storey education centre that will dominate the top half of the city centre. It will surpass the tallest building in Leeds - the 19-storey West Riding House office block in Albion Street.
"We want to put ourselves in a position where we can become a world class regional university," said deputy vice-chancellor Dr Geoff Hitchins.
Competitive
"We have taken the view that a significant number of buildings in the Civic Quarter are just not of the right quality, in particular the tower blocks which date from the 1950s.
"What we want to do is create high quality accommodation. We must invest if we are to remain competitive in this rapidly changing world of higher education."
Some relocation projects are already underway, with film, television and performing arts students using the Electric Press theatre next to Millennium Square.
Other projects are part of a 10-year plan. They include:
l Demolishing three 1950s tower blocks behind the university near the inner ring road.
l A 20-storey building at the junction of Calverley and Portland Way, to open by 2008.
l An education centre housing the university's Business School on a site now used as a car park behind Leeds Civic Hall.
l Redevelopment of Queen's Square.
l Selling off buildings on Brunswick Terrace and a nearby council-owned car park by summer 2006.
l Building extra accommodation for 1,000 students outside Headingley.
The university will also continue the refurbishment of its Headingley campus. Eight of the buildings in the 94-acre woodland site have already been remodelled, and there are plans to provide accommodation for 400 students.
The projects are set to build on a new image being devised by the university, which started with the opening of the futuristic Leslie Silver Building on the city centre campus in 2000.
Other recent rebranding has included replacing the owl logo with a flower, referring to the university as Leeds Met rather than LMU.
Another is making the Headingley campus - formerly called Beckett Park - the university's main campus and the new base for Dr Hitchins and Leeds Met's vice-chancellor, Prof Simon Lee.
The schemes will be funded by a mixture of capital grants, loans and revenue from student top-up fees to be introduced in 2006.
ian.rosserypn.co.uk
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Friday 25 May 2012
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