Latest News
Each month we will be posting the latest news here. Latest news first.
May 2012
We have formally submitted a planning application for the second phase of the Newton Park campus development to Bath and North East Somerset Council.
This second phase of the development comprises construction of new student residential accommodation to house an additional 571 students on the Newton Park campus, relieving pressure on housing stock in Bath.
We anticipate the council will take approximately four to five months to consider the planning application and make a decision. If approval is granted work on the new residential accommodation could start in spring 2013 with the first students taking occupancy in autumn 2014.
The proposals for the new accommodation feature an attractive courtyard design of nine blocks on the current ‘hockey pitch’ car park, close to the social facilities of the Students’ Union. The blocks will be mainly 10-bedroom houses with en-suite study bedrooms and shared kitchen/living room space. A number of the blocks will offer full disabled access and facilities.
The planning application also includes proposals to demolish Newton and Corston buildings as well as the former VC’s lodge in 2016, following completion of our new academic building.
A key requirement of our stakeholders, including our landlord the Duchy of Cornwall and English Heritage, has been the need to undertake some 'un-development' as part of any development at Newton Park to enable key restoration works to be undertaken. The demolition of these buildings meets this requirement, reinstating important views across the campus to the Castle.
Our plans also factor in the need to move a number of great crested newts, which are a protected species, from the site to a new home elsewhere on the campus.
Once it has been registered by B&NES Council, the application should also feature on their planning portal.
April 2012
Our contractors have been busy on the Newton Park campus during the Easter holidays getting on with enabling works for the new academic building. These works are running to schedule and we anticipate completion before exams start on 22 May.
What's Been Happening?
- A trench is being dug from the back of the Library towards the far end of Sydney, which will take cabling to a new energy centre and transformer.
- The path and road between Sydney and Doynton is now closed to pedestrians and vehicles, although access to the lakeside walk remains behind Main House and the Library.
- Student Services has moved from Doynton to The Lodge (between Main House and Newton).
- Work has started on a small generator compound at the back of the Library and on a small energy centre transformer behind Sydney.
- The area between Sydney and Harington is being levelled in preparation for the new energy centre.
- An access road has been created between Harington and Hiscocks for contractor vehicles. Vehicle movement along this road will be kept to a minimum and will be controlled and managed at all times.
Quiet Study Spaces
Work on the trenches, laying the cables and the works for the generator and energy centre transformer will continue over the next few weeks. Whilst we do not anticipate significant disruption, alternative quiet spaces are available.
We're also working on the Walled Garden near the Students' Union to transform this into a really attractive space where you can enjoy peace and quiet away from the building works. The Walled Garden will be open from mid May.
Weekly Updates
We're putting weekly updates on the Newton Park development both on the website and on the notice-board outside Moreton where you can find out what work is happening on site, as well as what's coming up next.
Staff and Student Forums
If you have any questions or concerns about the campus development, please come along to one of our monthly staff and student forums. These are an informal opportunity to ask questions and provide feedback. There is no need to book to attend. Here are the dates for your diary (all 12:00-14:00h):
- Friday 18 May – Main House, room NP.MH.111.
- Monday 18 June - Main House, room NP.MH.111.
- Tuesday 17 July - Main House, room NP.MH.111.
- Wednesday 15 August - Main House, room NP.MH.111.
Get In Touch
If you have a question about the development works, please take a look at our FAQs or come along to one of the staff and student forums (see above). Alternatively send us an email at:
March 2012
Preliminary Work Starts on Campus
More visible activity gets going on campus towards the end of this month so you'll start seeing workers, vehicles and equipment coming on site fairly soon.
From late March to the end of May, our contractors Skanska will be carrying out preliminary enabling activity, such as digging trenches for new pipe-work and making changes to the electricity generator, ahead of the major development works starting in the summer.
Our aim throughout these works is to prevent disruption to students and staff as much as possible.
For instance we've scheduled work closest to the library to take place during the Easter holidays to avoid disturbing students studying. And all preliminary work should be finished before exams start on 22 May.
Noise Levels
We've arranged for a noise simulation exercise to be carried out before work starts and have been generally reassured by the results of this. While there will of course be some noise as a result of the enabling work, in the main it should be comparable with the kind of noise levels you'd be used to in a town centre.
Hear For Yourself
If you'd like to find out more about the noise simulation, Skanska will be doing a presentation on this at our first Staff Forum on Wednesday 21 March from 12pm to 2pm in the Main House. Students are more than welcome to attend too.
Pop in any time during this two-hour slot with any questions you might have about the campus development. As well as the results of the noise simulation, representatives from our Estates team and the contractors Skanska will be on hand to talk through what's happening where during the next couple of months.
Quiet Study Spaces
We are arranging additional quiet study spaces at the top end of the campus in case any students are disturbed by the works. So if you find you are affected on a particular day, check this website for advice on alternative places to study.
Staff Forums
As mentioned above the first of our staff forums takes place soon and are scheduled to take place monthly as an informal opportunity to ask questions and provide feedback. There is no need to book to attend. Here are the dates for your diary (all 12-2pm):
- Wednesday 21 March – Main House, room NP.MH.111
- Thursday 19 April – Compton, room NP.CP.103
- Friday 18 May – Main House, room NP.MH.111
- Monday 18 June - Main House, room NP.MH.111
- Tuesday 17 July - Main House, room NP.MH.111
- Wednesday 15 August - Main House, room NP.MH.111
Student Panel
While students are more than welcome at the staff forums above, we've also set up a separate student panel in conjunction with the Student Union.
The aim of the panel is to make sure students know what's happening, can provide feedback and raise concerns, and are able to help influence some of the key decisions relating to the development, such as how the atrium in the new academic building will be used. If you would like to feed any queries or issues into the panel or get feedback about what has been discussed, please contact Harry Birch at su-comms@bathspa.ac.uk.
January 2012
Our exciting new campus development at Newton Park is underway with some essential works that will help to make the project run smoothly. One key job prior to the building works has been to take care of our bat populations. Ecologist and bat specialist Elaine Austin has been on hand to ensure that our bats get the very best treatment.
There are 16 species of bats in England and while each has its own lifestyle and habitat requirements, many roost in buildings. That is why it is vital to have specialists on hand to help ensure that our protected bat populations are cared for during development work.
Elaine Austin has been achieving this by creating roosting sites for bats across the campus which will make plenty of room for them. Two new, dedicated bat roosts have been created with special heated BatStat bat boxes. These bat boxes are designed for crevice dwelling species (including Pipistrelles, Myotis species, Brown Long-eared bats and Serotines) and are thermostatically heated throughout the bats active period.
A ‘stand-alone' timber bat house was also constructed to replicate a Lesser Horseshoe's night-roost. This structure has the potential to be used all year round by all bat species. This adds to the five bat boxes which were erected on mature Yew trees, in April 2011.
It is also vital to make sure that no bats are on the site when it is being developed. Our experts have been conducting bat activity surveys and regular checks. It is a careful process involving tiles being moved by hand and the location of entry points so that bats can leave the buildings but not enter. It ensures the best for our bats, preventing them from roosting in buildings on the development site and directing them to the cosy roosts nearby instead.
There are lots of other ways that the new development will help bat populations, including a sensitive lighting strategy and planting of native, nectar-rich shrubs to ensure foraging and commuting routes are retained and enhanced.
December 2011
Bath Spa University has signed a contract with Skanska today for the development of a world-class academic building in the heart of the Newton Park campus. Skanska, one of the world's leading construction groups, was awarded the main construction contract as part of the overall £40 million development which will transform academic facilities for students.
Signing the contract for the new academic building.
The exciting new academic building will provide state-of-the-art teaching facilities, technology-enabled study space and social learning space. It will also offer a superb new digital space with the best resources for teaching digital media-related courses in the south-west. It forms the first phase of a wider masterplan that will include new student accommodation in the next phase.
Former Vice-Chancellor, Professor Frank Morgan said: “With this project Bath Spa University moves to a new stage in its progress as one of the UK's most successful modern universities. The new building will consolidate our position as a major provider of courses involving digital technology with all that means for the regional economy and the employability of our students. We are delighted to be working with Skanska who share our environmental ethos and will use their experience of educational settings to produce an outstanding building of real architectural distinction.”
The visually stunning academic building will sit within the existing campus and has been designed in consultation with English Heritage and Natural England. It will blend sympathetically into the existing estate to provide a unique blend of history and modernity.
Environmental solutions and sustainability are at the heart of both Bath Spa University's and Skanska's approach to this project. The building will achieve the highest standard of environmental performance - ‘BREEAM Excellent' (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method). To deliver this, Skanska will incorporate elements such as energy saving lighting systems and a ‘living' sedum roof. A new high-tech energy centre will be built to support the development.
Commenting, Martin Nunns, managing director of Skanska Building – Central and Regions said: “Skanska are delighted to be working with a University that shares our environmental principles. While Bath Spa University has a First Class Award in the People & Planet Green League, Skanska UK has won the British Quality Foundation's Achievement Award for Sustainable Future and was named The UK's Best Green Company by the Sunday Times. It's the perfect partnership.”
Skanska is involved in some of the UK's most prestigious development projects and has an excellent record. Whether it is constructing a world-class cancer centre in London, or the £1 billion development project for The Barts and The London new hospitals programme, they are committed to ensuring that ‘business as usual' can continue throughout the development.
In addition, Skanska's experience of working in educational settings is strong in the south-west as they were responsible for the UK's first Building Schools for the Future programme in Bristol. Over recent years they have completed 20 schools across the region, most recently All Saints Academy in Cheltenham.
The construction of the state-of-the-art academic building will commence mid-2012 and will be complete in early 2014.
November 2011
A date has been set for the start of the world-class Newton Park campus development which will transform facilities for staff and students. The new development confirms the University as an exciting, ambitious and creative place in which to work and study, confident in its ability to compete in a changing higher education landscape.
The development has been meticulously planned to minimise disruption. Minor works for Phase 1 (the new academic building) begin during Easter break 2012 with the major development starting after exams in June. Plans for Phase 2 (student residential buildings) will be submitted next year.