UCL Estates' vision for Wild Bloomsbury

University College London's New Student Centre in Bloomsbury (Richard Hare Architects)

Richard Jackson, Director of Sustainability for University College London Estates, will join our 'Healthy Cities' forum on 30 January, to discuss how the institution is planning an overhaul of the outside spaces across both Bloomsbury and UCL East, putting the physical and mental health of its community centre stage.

The main London campus, Richard says, suffers from pollution, traffic impact and an outdated approach to using historic garden squares. He will be speaking at our event discussing how UCL intends to integrate its scientific research expertise into the design of its public and outside spaces, creating a 'wilder Bloomsbury'.

UCL, the first university institution to be established in London, owns more than 230 buildings making up 6.6 million square feet across the UK. This includes the main campus in Bloomsbury, central London, as well the teaching hospitals, and a new satellite campus in East London in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The campus has been used for a number of film and TV productions including Ridley Scott's Gladiator (2000), The Dark Knight (2008) and Inception (2010).

UCL's regeneration programme, which aims to minimise waste in construction and building operations while re-using materials, includes the new Student Centre (with 1,000 learning spaces) delivering renewable energy via the roof. Ten per cent of the university's ten year £1.25 billion capital projects programme will be funded via philanthropy, according to the Vice Provost for Development, Lori Houlihan. UCL has so far raised over £250 million towards this target. Completed buildings include the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits & Behaviour and the Bloomsbury Theatre.

Richard has over 20 years experience within the sustainability field, including strategy development, operational management, policy, lobbying and research. Prior to UCL he worked as both Head of Sustainability and Regeneration Manager at the Olympic Delivery Authority.