Addressing a Higher Education Cold Spot

Partners Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority, Peterborough City Council and Anglia Ruskin University are advancing an ambitious University Programme to enable economic growth and a levelling up of prosperity for the “left behind” region of Peterborough and the Fenlands.

With University Phase 1(academic building) and Phase 2 (Incubation Hub) due for completion in 2022, followed by Phase 3 (The Living Lab) in 2024, development has been occuring at pace since 2020 with funding support from the CPCA Business Board, Local Growth Fund, Get Building Fund and the Levelling Up Fund.

RIBA Client Advisor Services Provided:

• Supplementing the client’s in-house team to remove road blocks and realise vision

• Support on land assembly, legal, governance and procurement requirements

• Demystifying the process – supporting procurement of a ‘best fit’ team and contractor

• Understanding user experience – capturing lessons learnt from best practice buildings elsewhere and on earlier phases

  Informing the wider Business Plan – through technical support across the stages.

• Defining the Campus Brief with Partners – creating a Shared Vision for Delivery

• Identifying Project Risks and Opportunities – by mitigating and realizing them

• Supporting design outcomes – Completing Design Review and Evaluation Processes

• Meeting the challenges of Climate Change – defining Carbon Targets and Outcomes

2035 Ambitions

The new campus will be a high-quality employment-focused University, building capacity and impact in key growth sectors including Business, IT and Digital, Science, Agri-tech and Sustainability in the region.

Improving higher-level skills and knowledge capacity in the local population goes hand in hand with the stimulation of higher value jobs, providing opportunities for an increased number of higher-level skilled people living and working in the region.

With partner ambitions to realise a wider campus offer, there is potential to host up to 12,500 students by 2035 on Embankment with further development phases on the campus.