Birmingham university plans major expansion

A BIRMINGHAM university has submitted major plans for the redevelopment of its campus as it looks to accommodate hundreds of additional students.

Newman University, which is based in Bartley Green, is planning the biggest overhaul of its facilities since the-then college was built back in the late 1960s.

It was granted university status in 2013 and currently caters for around 2,2,00 students but with the lifting of the student cap last year, this could rise to 3,000.

The redevelopment is intended to produce a facility capable of accommodating the additional students and any future educational needs.

It is proposing to demolish some of the existing college buildings, together with student accommodation and convert other halls of residence for educational use.

A new 966m² education building will be erected, together with three new student accommodation blocks, together totalling 10,446m². These will be capable of housing almost 300 students.

The plan also includes additional parking space, taking current capacity from 265 vehicles to 350.

In a supporting statement to the plans, the university said: “The principal aim of the application proposal is to modernise the residential student accommodation offer at Newman.

“The existing residential student accommodation currently accommodates 183 students; however these are of a substandard quality. The university intends over time to replace the existing with modern fit-for-purpose accommodation and provide more accommodation so that a higher proportion of students can live on campus.

“The new accommodation will be provided in three blocks and built in three phases and in total comprises 298 new rooms.”

The application incorporates the demolition of four existing student accommodation blocks at Newman Close (totalling 18 rooms) and the change of use of three floors (16 rooms) of student accommodation within Littlemore and Oxford buildings to academic use.

In terms of teaching accommodation, the application proposes an extension to the existing Sturge building to provide 916m² of new teaching facilities.

Existing teaching buildings McAuley and Freire will be lost through demolition, together with the on-site nursery and existing electricity substation.

How the accommodation facilities will look