The University of Central Lancashire’s (UCLan) University Square will become the focal point of UCLan’s Preston Campus. Measuring 5,000 square meters and featuring Wi-Fi and plenty of seating, Preston’s first public square in 70 years will be a place for students and local communities to come together and enjoy various university and public events. At night, the area will celebrate the city’s proud heritage with motion sensitive “light threads,” symbolising cotton strands, embedded into the natural stone granite paving, creating a stunning illuminated pathway and guiding visitors from the Square, through the Student Centre and into the main campus.
The new student centre is a 7,304 square meters facility including a spectacular rooftop terrace, informal learning spaces and a student well-being support center. The landmark development is a great example of the proud civic role the university plays in Preston’s continuing evolution. This is why spending and employing local — defined as within 20 miles of Preston — was essential to UCLan’s social value objectives, ensuring that the project provided strong economic benefits to Preston and the wider Lancashire area. A truly transformational project, it will stimulate economic regeneration and continue making the city a place where people want to live, work, study and spend time.
The new development is the culmination of UCLan’s Masterplan project, launched in 2015, which set out a vision to create a state-of-the-art, sustainable campus for students, staff, visitors and communities for years to come. In 2018, as part of an effort to engage local communities from inside and outside of the university, a “test bed” was created housing events and artwork around the site. There were musical performances, lighting installations, art projects and workshops that were meant to explore, examine and animate what might happen in the final built square and to engage its future visitors.
Client
University of Central Lancashire
Services
- Project management
- Cost management
- Employer’s agent
- Principal designer
- Civil infrastructure assessment
