Peterborough's £30 million university is shortlisted for national design award

The first phase of Peterborough’s £30 million university has been nominated for a prestigious design award.

University House, in Bishop’s Road, has been shortlisted for the AJ Architecture Awards 2023, which seeks to ‘celebrate and reward design excellence in UK architecture’.

The annual awards, organised by the Architects’ Journal, sees ARU Peterborough feature in an eight-strong Higher Education category alongside entries from Jesus College at the University of Oxford, Ulster University in Belfast, the University of York, and Lucy Cavendish College at the University of Cambridge.

University House, which opened to students in September last year, was designed by Cambridge-based MCW architects, who have helped turn a brownfield site into a green, accessible campus.

It has teaching and lab spaces over three floors, and features aluminium solar shading inspired by the design of Peterborough Cathedral’s ceiling, a green roof with photovoltaics, a Sustainable Urban Drainage System (SUDS) to help support local biodiversity, and fossil fuel free heat and hot water generation.

Architects MCW have continued their work with ARU Peterborough by designing both the Innovation and Research Building and the university’s third phase, which features additional STEM teaching facilities and a publicly accessible science space. Work on this third phase is now underway following a turf cutting ceremony in June.

The campus was designed to reflect the principal values of the institution – open access for the community, visibility of learning, and cross disciplinary collaborative working in a building that is accessible, contemporary, welcoming, and sustainable.

Professor Ross Renton, Principal of ARU Peterborough, said: “From the outset we’ve wanted ARU Peterborough to be an inspiring, inclusive, environmentally friendly campus that the people of Peterborough can be proud of, and MCW have been instrumental in helping us realise this vision.

“University House, our new home, is a stunning first building, combining cutting-edge facilities with a wonderful, welcoming atmosphere. We’re delighted that MCW’s tremendous work on this project has been recognised by the judges of the AJ Architecture Awards, and we’re very pleased to be working with MCW on the third phase of ARU Peterborough, which is due to be completed next year.”

Lien Geens, Associate at MCW, said: “Purpose-built from the ground up for the city and the wider region, it’s been a pleasure to create industry standard facilities for ARU Peterborough, all housed inside brand-new buildings.

“Working with a client that really cares about creating an inspiring, inclusive, and sustainable campus — that will have a significant impact on the local community — makes it that much more fulfilling. It’s great to see this ambition and creativity recognised by the Architects’ Journal.”

Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority, Dr Nik Johnson, said: “I’m delighted for ARU Peterborough – it's such a striking design and really does deserve this recognition.”

The winners of the AJ Architecture Awards 2023 will be announced on November 22.

The university has just won the Alliance Award for community impact, has been shortlisted for the University of the Year accolade at the Times Higher Education (THE) 2023 and six months ago, won the University Impact Initiative of the Year title at the Association of University Directors of Estates (AUDE) awards.