Planning permission has been granted for a new state-of-the-art building to house the Nottingham School of Art & Design at Nottingham Trent University (NTU).
The building, designed by architects Hawkins\Brown, will create a signature presence on the university’s city campus, and is part of an ambitious plan to build on NTU’s reputation as one of the world’s leading art and design schools.
The new development will replace redundant buildings on the corner of Shakespeare Street and North Sherwood Street, exploiting views to and from the city whilst respecting the neighbouring heritage buildings.
It will enable NTU to develop its creative industries offering by bringing new technologies for film, animation, UX design, gaming and graphic design and illustration together with traditional design practice.
The building – which is 5,300 square metres – will feature a glazed ground floor entrance which will be used as an exhibition space, providing visitors with an exciting sense of arrival and offering opportunity for collaboration within the university, industry and the local community, through social open learning spaces.
There will be dedicated spaces for visual communication, moving image and digital screen disciplines as well as a cafe, Digital Innovation Lab and Black Box Studio.
The building will support NTU’s zero carbon commitment and has been designed with the aim of achieving BREEAM ‘Excellent’ and DEC ‘A’ ratings.
A future aspiration, alongside the development, is to create a nearby green space for students, colleagues and the local community to enjoy as part of NTU’s commitment to greening the city and enhancing the biodiversity of the university environment.
Professor Edward Peck, Vice-Chancellor of Nottingham Trent University, said: “This building will enable the Nottingham School of Art & Design to become the leading art and design school in the UK, positioning us at the heart of one of the UK’s most innovative cities, creating the best talent in one of the fastest growing sectors in the UK economy.
“It will expand our contribution to the creative industries and be a major driver of innovation and technology in art and design, allowing us to be at the forefront of the creative industries and building upon our heritage of the past 175 years.”
Michael Marsden, Executive Dean of the Nottingham School of Art & Design, said: “This new building pushes the boundaries, not only through the architecture and technologies used to create it, but through the courses on offer, the opportunity for collaboration, and the graduates it will produce.”
Work on the building will commence soon and is expected to be completed by Autumn 2023. This significant investment is expected to create more than 350 jobs and over an additional £1 million in student expenditure in the local economy.
