Founded more than a hundred years ago, the University of Sheffield owes its inception to the aspirations and financial support of the people of Sheffield, who wanted to establish a university that would benefit their economy, their health and their children. With almost 27,000 students from more than 140 countries, learning alongside over 1200 of the best academics from around the globe, Sheffield now offers world-class teaching and research excellence in a wide range of disciplines.

Supporting the delivery of that learning and teaching through outstanding buildings and facilities is the Department of Estates and Facilities Management. Like many leading Russell Group universities, we have a real mix of buildings, from the historic listed Firth Court (1905), through to the iconic listed Arts Tower (1966) and the recently completed world-class Diamond.

Improvements have been made to the standard and quality of our buildings, and 81% of the estate now meets the RICS standards A or B, compared with just 56% in 2010. Since 2012 we have completed 198 projects with a total capital value of £495m.

A major achievement was the opening – on time and on budget – of the Diamond, the University’s largest ever capital investment in teaching and learning. Following a lengthy and often difficult planning application, which was crucial to unlocking our wider estates strategy, the two-year construction programme delivered 19,500 sq m of world class innovative space at the heart of our campus.

The Diamond includes specialist engineering teaching facilities, including thermodynamics, aerospace simulation, structures, dynamics and fluids engineering laboratories as well as a clean room and pilot plant. Also housed within the building are lecture theatres, seminar rooms, open-plan learning spaces, library services and social spaces.

The Diamond

Thanks to the expansion and improvement of the engineering estate, in 2015 UK applications for engineering undergraduate courses at Sheffield rose by 20%, with applications for postgraduate taught courses up by 8% and postgraduate research up by 11%. The Diamond has also had a major economic impact, with around 500 jobs created to support its construction. During construction and the first year of its operation, the building was expected to bring £44.5m into the local economy.

We have also recently secured planning permission for the Heartspace, to transform the listed Victorian Mappin building and develop much of the adjacent site into modern teaching and learning space under a dramatic atrium.

The success of the University of Sheffield’s investment in our original Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) is well documented. Since the first building opened in 2004, a further seven new buildings and two extensions have been added to provide more than 36,000 sq m of accommodation valued at around £160m. As well as securing its own impressive growth, the AMRC has also played a pivotal role in attracting Rolls-Royce to the region.

That success has brought about its own challenges – namely concerning where future expansion can be accommodated – and the University of Sheffield is now developing an advanced manufacturing research campus at Sheffield Business Park, where we have secured more than 40 hectares of land. This campus should be developed fully by 2022–24, and generate some £220m GVA per year for the local economy. Our first University owned building on the site is Factory 2050, the world’s first fully reconfigurable factory. McLaren Automotive is the first private investor to co-locate on the site, and Boeing has also decided to locate a major aerospace manufacturing facility there.

Approval for our advanced manufacturing campus master plan has opened the door to the creation of a critical mass of high-tech, advanced manufacturing businesses, creating major benefits and opportunities for the city of Sheffield and placing us firmly on the international map as leaders in this important sector.

We have also started a major public-realm initiative, developed in partnership with Sheffield City Council, to transform the public spaces around the University, providing new and improved crossings on major roads, creating safe pedestrian and cycle routes, and bringing trees, plants and world-class integrated public art to the area. With almost £3m of funding from the Sheffield City Region Investment Fund, and more than £5m from the University, this ambitious project will improve the environment for all of our students and staff, as well as creating a welcoming atmosphere for the wider Sheffield public.

Future elements of the scheme include major improvements to the University concourse, and the transformation of an existing car park in front of the Arts Tower into a park.

Factory 2050

Visualisation of the Heartspace

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Article taken from the book ‘AUDE: The First 25 Years’. Digital and hard copies available to buy.

Content for the book was drafted during 2016 and 2017 and was correct at the time of writing.