MMU unveils Hulme campus

MANCHESTER Metropolitan University’s £139m Birley Campus in Hulme was officially opened today.

The university said the campus had reinvented an area once defined by economic decline and dilapidated 1970s housing.

The main 250,000 sq ft building, dubbed “the sugarcube” will house 6,000 students and 500 staff. Accommodation blocks with rooms for 1,200 students are also being built.

It is part of an MMU plan to consolidate its operations on to two campuses, down from seven.

MMU Vice-Chancellor John Brooks said: “This is a massive investment in Hulme not only in its physical environment but via many, many university projects with the community which aim to improve health, and wellbeing, raise educational aspiration and attainment and empower people at the grass-roots.

“We hope that the uniting force of education will make Birley a focal point for the community and redefine what a university can achieve with the people who live around it.”

City council leader Sir Richard Leese said: “Hulme has come a long way since the 1970s and this new campus is the final element of a long-term strategy of renewal and regeneration. It stands in every sense at the heart of the community and I commend MMU on their vision.”

The main contractor is Robert McAlpine and the site has been designed by architect Sheppard Robson.