First Peterborough university building set for completion in July

The first teaching building of the new Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) Peterborough on Bishop’s Road has now taken shape. The concrete frame has now been completed and all of the internal staircases have been installed.

The university will admit its first students into the building in September, with it scheduled for completion on July 25.

From September, Art and Design, Creative and Digital, Environmental Management, Engineering, Health, Social care, Education and Management and Finance courses will begin in the new £31.3m facility.

These thematic areas will be delivered between four faculties; the Faculty of Business, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, the Faculty of Creative and Digital Arts and Sciences, the Faculty of Agriculture, Environment and Sustainability and the Faculty of Health, Education and Social Care.

In terms of funding, £12.3m has been put in from the Mayor’s Gainshare Fund, £12.4m from the combined authority’s Business Board’s Local Growth Fund and £6.5m from Anglia Ruskin. The university has pledged a further £3.8m of funding for any contingencies.

Peterborough City Council has contributed by the provision of £1.87m of land. All of these partners have received shares in the new Peterborough HE Property Company, which will own the building.

A second building, a phase two research building, is scheduled for completion before the end of year as well, December 15.

Photocentric will be the anchor tenants of the building, which they will use to assist in the development of new 3D printed battery technology for vehicles. Several other established and start-up companies will also use the facility to develop cutting-edge technologies linked to net zero carbon products.

The building has been set a budget of £15.78m, which consists of a £13.78 investment from the combined authority’s Business Board’s Get Building Fund of £13.78m and £2m from its private sector partner, Photocentric Ltd.

Both partners will own the building through Peterborough R&D Property Company Ltd.

Peterborough City Council (PCC) will contribute up to £500k of borrowings to part fund increased car parking capacity and the combined authority will provide an £800k grant to create a budget to deliver a flat grass-crete car park adjacent to the site.

There are also plans for a further two teaching buildings on the site. The second teaching building, which was given the go-ahead in October, will house STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics as well as a new landmark cultural asset, The Living Lab. This will be a new open, interactive science lab and education space to creatively engage people (especially young people) in science and technology and will form the heart of the new University Quarter Cultural Hub.

Works on an outline planning application have already started and will be funded by a combination of £20m of government Levelling Up Funding, £4m from Anglia Ruskin, £2m from the combined authority and £2m from the council in land transfer.

This will boost the student population by a further 1700.

A third teaching building is envisaged to open to students in the 2028/29 academic year and will expand the number of students at the site to 7000 by 2031.

The final details are still subject to the outcome of the embankment masterplan, which is currently ongoing.