The University of Nottingham is seeking expertise from the local community to help shape the future of its newest campus, ahead of plans to open up the doors to the public for the first time this month.
The university is establishing a volunteer advisory group for its Castle Meadow Campus, its new city centre campus on the site of the former HMRC headquarters, at the foot of the historic Nottingham castle.
Jason Phoenix, Castle Meadow Programme Director for the University of Nottingham, said: “This is a hugely exciting development for the university and will enable us to realise some of our ambitions to expand research, teaching and collaboration activity, offer increased opportunities for civic engagement, and develop the university experience for many of our postgraduate students.
“We want the local community to feel a part of what’s happening at Castle Meadow at every stage of its development and are seeking ‘critical friends’ to provide advice and support and bring best practice and knowledge to the project helping us to review plans as they develop.”
Encompassing seven buildings – recently awarded grade II listed status for their iconic appearance – and 32,500 square metres of space, Castle Meadow Campus will feature state-of-the-art facilities and will be a hub for collaboration for the whole community – from local schools and businesses to academics and industry.
Officially opening by 2025, the campus will provide an additional new base for Nottingham University Business School (NUBS), which will capitalise on the city centre location to develop new opportunities for teaching, research and partnership activity, enabling it to grow its postgraduate offer and increase collaboration with strategic partners.
It will also be the home of the university’s Digital Nottingham project, which will harness digital and data knowledge and innovation to support a thriving regional digital sector and help solve challenges across the city and region.
The university envisages opening up the campus as a venue for events, installations, demos and digital showcasing – including immersive technology, AI and Robotics and digital 3D mapping tools.
In addition, it hopes to be able to offer digital skills education for local professionals and young people as well as regional networking opportunities for small and medium sized businesses.
A phased refurbishment plan is underway and in purchasing Castle Meadow Campus, the university also became landlords for law firm Browne Jacobson which is currently based at the site. It is soon to be joined by professional services firm KPMG, which has announced it will relocate its East Midlands office to the campus later this year.
